Boundless
by addielady
Summary: The tale of the Ring - it is one that shaped two ages of Middle Earth. But what if the full story was not told? What if there were two rings? Learn why the One Ring was forged, of the woman who the second ring was meant for, and know the full tale at last. [Legolas/OC] [Aragorn?/OC]
1. Chapter 1: The Council

**Hello all! It has been some time since I wrote fan fiction, but I am excited to be back at it. I hope that you will all enjoy the concept behind this tale as much as I have enjoyed writing it thus far! Of course, I own nothing beyond a few original characters, the rest belongs to J.R.R. Tolkien himself. This fic is primarily based around the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Tolkien, with some ideas from the Peter Jackson's films. Forgive me if I get my facts/information wrong. I am doing my best to check dates, ideas, and language, but I'm by no means perfect! Please read & review, happy reading and thanks for being here:)**

It was, she realized with tremendous sadness as she glanced around the dais at the people seated around her, the last gathering of great beings that Middle Earth would ever receive again. Elrond led the council, seated in an elevated chair before the arrayed crowd, his face long and grave in its eternal youth. His wisdom and healing had been a stalwart to Middle Earth throughout the ages, and it was to him and _Imladris_ that the free peoples had turned to now in this dark hour.

To his right was Glorfindel, the elf lord, and his left, Arwen Undómiel, his daughter, whose beauty was striking even to Adelaide, who in her long life was accustomed to great beauty. Gandalf the Gray Pilgrim was slumped in his chair down the row of nameless elves after Glorfindel and the sons of Elrond, his sparking eyes contrasting with the apparent age of his body. He was a familiar presence to her, and she felt that he might give her the bravery to say what must be said, when at last the time came.

The other races of Middle Earth were represented also. Of dwarves, Gloin and his son Gimli had traveled from Erabor the Lonely Mountain. Adelaide had not seen Gloin since their venture to the mountain, and had been pleased at their reuniting only a few days prior to the council, however, it was her first time making the acquaintance of Gimli.

To Adelaide's left was Legolas, her traveling partner, life companion, and representative of the Mirkwood elves, and to her right was Boromir, captain of Gondor in the East across the Misty Mountains. His head rested in his left hand while his right gripped a white war horn firmly; the tension in his body would have snapped a thousand bowstrings.

Beside Boromir the four hobbits sat, finishing with Bilbo then Frodo the Ringbearers, and beside him was Aragorn son of Arathorn, Isildur's heir. Aragorn's dark hair hung in wavy sheets on his cheeks and lips were pressed together in a grimace – only a trained eye would notice the almost imperceptible tapping of his sword hilt with his left pointer finger. Adelaide had met the ranger only once before on a brief visit to the Woodland elf kingdom, and their acquaintance had been short then.

She knew from the uncertain glances that were intermittently cast in her direction, that she was the mysterious figure in the circle. _That will change at the conclusion of this council, once I have spoken my part_ she thought to herself, but she hid her nerves behind a stoic face. Beyond the people gathered here currently, only Galadriel Lady of Lorien with her partner Celeborn and Círdan of the Gray Havens were persons of great notoriety missing from this gathering. _And Bombadil I suppose, although he would never leave his Goldberry_.

She was broken from her considerations by the voice of Elrond.

"Bring forth the ring, Frodo," he commanded, although his eyes were soft when he looked upon the hobbit. To her right, Frodo stood and approached the plinth. His bare footsteps made hardly a sound against the marble stone floors, and after a moments hesitation he set the ring in the center of the plinth and hurried once more back to his seat, his chin tucked to his chest. Around her, Adelaide could hear much rustling and a few mutters from the crowd as they all took in the small golden circle set before them. Elrond, Aragorn and herself alone were the only persons who did not utter a sound, or in fact make any move at all.

For her part, Adelaide felt a weight grow on her right pointer finger and a sense of burning, as if her skin had been held long under steaming water, but she ignored the sensations despite the discomfort it caused her. The council waited with baited breath, and to much surprise, it was Gloin who spoke first.

The dwarf stood as he told of the growing of dark days under and beside the Lonely Mountain, and of the appearance of black riders from Mordor to both King Dáin and King Brand of Dale.

"Already war is gathering on his eastern borders. If we make no answer, the Enemy may move Men of his rule to assail King Brand, and Dáin also," Gloin finished, taking his seat and looking expectantly towards Elrond.

"You have done well to come," said Elrond. "You will hear today all that you need in order to understand the purposes of the Enemy. There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone. You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the western world. The Ring! What shall we do with the Ring, the least of rings, the trifle that Sauron fancies? That is the doom that we must deem."

"That is the purpose for which you are called hither. Called, I say. though I have not called you to me, strangers from distant lands. You have come and are here met, in this very nick of time, by chance as it may seem. Yet it is not so. Believe rather that it is so ordered that we, who sit here, and none others, must now find counsel for the peril of the world."

After this declaration, Elrond launched into the tale of Sauron and forging of the great rings of power in the Second Age. He spoke of the nine Kings of Men who succumbed to Sauron's dark will to become the Nazgul, and of the Elves rings, three of which were hidden from the Dark Lord and therefore not corrupted. He spoke of the Last Great Alliance of Elves and Men, and recounted how he watched as Isildur cut The One Ring from Sauron's hand with the shards of Narsil.

To many in the crowd, Elrond's tale was completing their own fragmented story, or otherwise entirely new, but to Adelaide, who had been there for all aspects of the journey, the tale was a familiar one.

Boromir spoke next, interjecting at the conclusion of Elrond's speech to speak of the troubles of Gondor and Minas Tirith, and of his dreams that warned of Halflings and Isildur's Bane. Aragorn for one answered on behalf of the heir of Isildur, and the ring on the plinth before them all was Isildur's Bane, that much was evident to even Boromir. Adelaide felt a seed of impatience begin to bloom in her stomach as she took in Boromir's doubtful eye as the son of Gondor sent an appraising eye up and down Aragorn's form.

Accompanying her impatience, nausea began to well within her too. She had never before told her tale, and not even Elrond, oldest at the council, nor Legolas, her closest companion in this age knew a whisper of what she intended to reveal. In fact, no one knew why she was there, or even if she had been invited. Adelaide _had_ been invited, although only out of courtesy for hers and Elrond's many years of friendship, and no one was expecting her to add to the tale.

She hardly listened as Gandalf picked up the story where Elrond's knowledge failed and spoke of Sméagol's finding of the Ring, nor as Bilbo recounted his own tale of riddles with the creature Gollum and the passing on of the Ring to Frodo. _Yes, yes I know_ she wanted to shriek. Bile welled within her throat and her blood moved like lead through her veins and she wondered if she would be sick. Now that she had committed herself to finally revealing her tale, she longed to be free of the burden she had carried with her for so long. How the rest of the council would respond, she could not guess, but her desire to speak outweighed her fear of being ostracized.

Frodo and Gandalf finished the tale, Frodo speaking briefly of their flight from the black riders, and Gandalf of the recognizing the true nature of Bilbo's ring and of Saruman's betrayal.

With the conclusion of the story of the One Ring, the council sat back, pondering the information that they had just received. The hobbits looked exhausted, and Boromir troubled. The rest of the assembly was able to better hide their emotions, but Adelaide felt a cold bead of sweat roll down her back. It was almost time for her part.

"And now what remains is this: what is to be done with the Ring?" Elrond spoke, sending a piercing gaze around the circle below him.

Adelaide drew in one breath, and then two. For one moment alone, which seemed to stretch on for many in her mind, she considered holding her tongue, but her heart won out and she stopped the shaking in her legs to stand. Around her, the company turned to her in surprise, and Legolas, who's blue eyes softened when they came upon her, raised himself halfway out of his seat before she motioned for him to remain seated.

To the people gathered at the council, those who had taken no notice of her before now sent her an appraising eye. She was tall, with honey colored curls that stretched to the middle of her back, and green eyes that glistened in the mid-afternoon sun. Her skin was tanned and toned, and her dress was of a fine, black, flowing material. It had a plunging neckline and loose flowing skirt, with a pattern of leaves made by gold stitching adorning it so that when its layers ruffled in the breeze, it appeared as if autumn leaves were falling around her. At her waist was a broadsword, narrow for her build and slightly shorter than a man of her stature's might have been. On her, the weapon did not appear out of place. Of her age, she appeared in the full bloom of her youth and beauty, but her green eyes held an ageless mist in them that gave her the sense of timelessness.

Her gaze, however, was not fixated on the people staring at her, but instead at the ring in the center of the circle. To everyone gathered there, they saw a flash of grief on her face, and heard a small sigh escape her lips, but none could see any of the nerves she felt boiling in her stomach.

"Lord Elrond," she began, her voice soft at first, but growing strong as she continued. Her right hand felt heavier than ever and the fire that had started on her first finger now stretched up her arm due to the proximity of the Ring. _I am being laid bare, and how painful it is_ she mused before continuing.

"We have spoken of how the Ring came to be, and the events thereafter, but I believe that I have a light to be shone on the story, one that none here nor any on Middle Earth is familiar with." Behind her she could feel Legolas's eyes boring into her back and she felt a twinge of guilt. They had lived together for the past many years, and on his part there had been no secrets between the two of him. _I am sorry, nin mel_ she thought, sending him an apologetic look. His love for her was strong, but she knew he would be angry tonight when at last the council concluded.

"And who, if you do not mind me asking," said a curt voice from behind, "are you? And what can you add to this tale that the wise masters Elrond and Gandalf have not shared with us?"

Turning, Adelaide saw Boromir's face was cold and she knew the question had come from him.

It was her turn to be surprised when Gandalf, Legolas, and Aragorn all stood in her defense. It was Legolas that spoke next.

"This is Adelaide, _Erui Adaneth_ , the Great Wanderer. She is that of no lineage, yet with blood richer than all the races of the lands of Arda combined. She is of the first, and will be of the last. The _Ú- Gwedhi,_ and someone to whom you owe your respect," Legolas toned in a clear, ringing voice. His voice swelled with pride as he spoke of her, and as he sat down, again his blue eyes met with Adelaide's green and their gaze burned for a moment before she turned back to the center.

" _Ú- Gwedhi_ ," Boromir whispered in wonder, and it seemed that for the time being he was content to listen to her.

"Speak on, Adelaide. I for one, would like to hear your tale. Take heed to leave no part out, especially as it concerns the Ring," Elrond instructed. Adelaide bowed her head to him.

"My tale _does_ closely concern the Ring, although not how it was made, for that history has already been laid bare. Instead, I am standing here to speak to you of _why_ the Ring was forged. Elrond and Gandalf have only guessed part of the reason why, and it is of course for the dominion of all living things on Middle Earth, but there is much more to the story. I do not know if the information will be of any aid, but it will help paint a clearer picture of our enemy, and what we are to face in the months and days ahead."

Around her was silence, and Adelaide felt her last drop of fear receding out of her. Inside her, a new fire was burning. The spark perhaps was justice, but there was something more too it now. _A desire to give understanding_ she realized. _The understanding I desperately craved so many ages ago._


	2. Chapter 2: The Tale

**Here you get to learn about Adelaide's mysterious past, and why she is so afraid to speak at the Council. Of course, please R &R and let me know if you catch mistakes, I certainly make a ton of them. Also, I own nothing. Happy reading friends:)**

"It begins, as some of you may have guessed from my name _Erui Adaneth_ , a name which the elves gave to me before the first age while I still dwelt in the Blessed Lands meaning 'first woman,' with the great singing of Arda. I awoke at the end of the song and heard only the last few, straining notes before it was concluded. By that time, Eru had stopped to conduct and Melkor has sung his discord, and all that left was for Arda to be formed." Adelaide collected her breath before continuing.

"I say awoke, and not born, because I am not of Arda. My world and lineage are of another, and that tale," she said with a grimace, "is so lengthy it would take us many waxing's and waning's of the moon before it was completed." There were many startled glances around her, and she attempted a smile. "For now, you must be content to know that while my part in the history of this world is certain, that I am not of it, and am singular in that respect. In my world I am a being of great power, but here, while in Eru's domain, I am content with little magics and the wisdom of experience and skill of battle. Also understand, that if I was to release all of my power, or to be killed here, I would not diminish, but instead return to my world as I was before I arrived here. My reasons for not returning to my home will become clear by the end of this story. I hope."

"I spent my days in Valinor among the Valar and the Maiar, although time was different then and the days passed slower than they do now. It was a happy time, full of music and creation, and not since those days have great works of poetry, song, dance, and arts been seen in Arda."

"Hold on a second," pipped up Merry. "So you really want us to believe that you were here when Middle Earth was created? I'm sorry, but it seems a little far fetched to me. Why have we never heard of you? We've heard of all the other great Elf Lords who lived long ago, even if we have never left the Shire before."

To this, Adelaide laughed.

"It is simply because I do not like my name written down. While I have had an effect on this world, as you will shortly see, I am always conscious that I am not of it and avoid being credited with any doings. It prevents confusion when I eventually return to my home world through the void." Adelaide smiled brightly at Merry, but the young hobbit only appeared confused and fell silent.

"She speaks the truth," Elrond agreed, although wonder shown in his eyes. He knew that Adelaide had been old by the time of his own birth, although she had never recounted to the Elf Lord the saga of her awakening.

"During my time in Valinor, I became well acquainted with a Maia named Mairon, who we know today as the Enemy, the Dark Lord Sauron who rules even now in Mordor in the East. But when I first met him, he was still young and his spirit was still pure, untainted by Melkor."

"I can still recall the image of him when I first laid eyes upon him, standing by the sea. Mairon was tall and dark of hair, with knowing, smiling eyes and a love for knowledge and creation. His robes were black to hide the soot of the forge, and his smile never left his face. He served Aulë in the forges, and there he gained renown for his works of art and weaponry, for no others surpassed him in skill. Throughout Valinor, he was recognized as one of the most powerful Maia, and all adored him."

"His love for creation was most intense about those things which he could not create himself, namely the races of Middle Earth. We often discussed which, if any, of the races of Middle Earth were perfect, and if we could create a perfect race, what would their looks and temperament and wisdom be? His thoughts could not be more different than mine. To Mairon, the great perfectionist that he is, things were black or white. To him, there was a right answer to every question, if only the answer was studied enough. I attributed this to naivety, for I was old when Eru began singing, and I believed very much in the gray-in-between."

"What began with an acquaintance of discussion quickly grew. On Mairon's part, I was wise, beautiful, and older than himself. Most importantly was that Mairon could sense a great power about me, and in retrospect I believe he was convinced I was one of the Valar in disguise. For myself, like I have told you, I am the only being living who is not of this world, and it can be a lonely existence. Mairon came to know me closely, and in time I though that he might have come to understand what I truly was."

Here Adelaide smiled, curling her right hand into a fist. To Aragorn, it looked as if she might cry and he felt a pang of sadness sweep through him and an urge to protect her, although he did not know why.

"I cherished our relationship because I loved the understanding he gave me. To find someone who comprehends the essence of who and what you are? That is a rare thing indeed. On top of this, Mairon was attractive and skilled and his power was as magnetic to me as mine was to him."

"What happened next should come as no surprise to any of you than. We fell in love, and we spent a long happy time together in Valinor. He would create for me perfect bouquets of wrought golden roses and silver ferns and diamond and ruby chrysanthemums, and I would sing flowers into life for him and set constellations in the sky that I knew would be to his liking. Soon, Valinor was beautiful with the physical declarations of our love."

Again, silence engulfed the council and Adelaide froze. Already she felt lighter, for that was the greatest truth at the center of her tale: she had loved him, and he her, and out of that love they had written the doom for countless numbers of men, elves, and dwarves.

Legolas watched as Adelaide tremored with her confession, and he longed to hold her. How long had he known and loved her, and yet never guessed? A mixture of pity and anger at her secrecy welled up inside him, but he held his tongue and continued to listen.

"And yet you already know what our fate was, for his name is Sauron now and he is nothing but a wraith of his former self. Melkor, who sang the original discord into the world, saw what an incredible tool Mairon would be, if only he could sway his will. The same perfectionism which Mairon used to create the bronze wood which filled our room and my own blade that I wear even now at my side would be used to turn him against Valinor. Melkor, known to many of you as Morgoth, came to Mairon and spoke vile words in his ear. He spoke of a perfect order of Arda and the races that inhabited Middle Earth, and how only through their unification could this order be achieved."

"It was, in my opinion," Adelaide said with a sigh, "the perfect argument to sway Mairon to Melkor's side. For what did he desire more than complete knowledge and control of the one thing he could not create? And, to his credit, at least in the beginning, I do not think he intended to harm the races. In his naivety he truly believed his rule would be best for the peoples of Middle Earth."

At this statement, a sound from the council was finally heard. Gimli scoffed, and then spat on the floor.

"And you did not see his betrayal? You, who claim to be an all powerful being of a world none here in this room can comprehend, could not _see_ his deterioration? Bah!" Gimli grunted in accusation.

Across the room, Gandalf let out a low chuckle, and for the first time since Adelaide's tale began, he smiled at her. Adelaide too smiled at the dwarf, and then returned her gaze fixedly to the Ring in the center of the plinth.

"You are forgetting one thing, Gimli son of Gloin, and it is the one thing Melkor forgot too in all his greed."

"And what," Gimli hissed, "is that?"

"Mairon loved me," she stated simply, and behind her Gandalf beamed. "Mairon's perfect world could not be perfect without myself, and yet he knew he would never be able to convince me. Have I not already said I was older and wiser than the Maia, and that I believed too much in the gray between to be pulled into Mairon's vision of perfect life? No, he would never convince me, but nor would he abandon me, and so he set about devising a plan to control me."

"I think you asked how I did not see his betrayal? None did. Of all the Valar and Maiar in Valinor, none could have guessed. As I have stated before, all loved him, and myself most of all. I was, however, not completely ignorant. Our discussions grew harsh, and Mairon no longer liked to craft in the forges. He seemed stressed, and his sleep patterns grew infrequent. I became worried, but there was also a new, darker glint in his eye, behind the laughter, and something in my heart told me to fear."

"I should have left then, and returned to my world when I first felt the misgivings, but my excuse was the same. I loved him, and I did not wish to be parted from him, and it was during this time that Mairon gave me his greatest, but also his last gift."

"Deep in the forges of Aulë, at the center where the heat is the hottest, did Mairon craft the first ring. Not the one set before you by Frodo, but the one I bear now, and the one the history of neither elves nor men nor dwarves has heard tale of."

And at that moment Adelaide lifted the longstanding magic which had hung about her right hand, and raising her hand toward the sky, the council saw for the first time the unadorned gold band which flashed upon her finger.

Frodo and Bilbo, the ringbearers, felt that, if possible, it was even more lovely than the ring they had carried. It was perhaps one shade of gold lighter, and the band thinner, and for now they could sense none of the evil whispers that emanated from the One Ring.

"Mairon knew he had not the strength to subdue me, for I was more powerful in my Valinor form, and so into this ring he poured his love for me, hoping that when I put it on my finger I would be so struck with love for him that I would be willing to follow Mairon to whatever end."

A cold laugh came from Adelaide and she pulled the ring off her finger to weigh it in her palm.

"It was at the moment I put the ring on, when I was supposed to fall under Mairon's domain, that I knew that Mairon did not understand me the way I had once perceived he had. For he had crafted the ring thinking that I was of Eru's great song, but I am _Ú- Gwedhi_ , without bind, and nothing of this world could keep me here."

"I do not know what would happen if you put the ring on, for no other but myself has ever worn it, but I think nothing. For it was intended for my hand only, and I think would bear no effects on another. Either way, when it became clear that Mairon was up to evil mischief, I was forced to report his devilry and he fled Valinor. By this time the First Age of Middle Earth had begun, and he journeyed to be the servant of Melkor, known to most of you as Morgoth."

"From here my tale is mostly completed. I was broken hearted and am sad to say that I did little to aid in the battle against Morgoth, although I did aid Lúthien in her quest to find Beren. In my grief I sheltered myself away in Valinor for a great time, but I did not return home because in part I felt that I was responsible for the evil that had been released into Middle Earth."

"When the First Age ended and Mairon returned to Valinor to beg forgiveness, I do not think it was for that sole purpose. Mairon, despite his new, twisted nature, was still in love with me as I was with him, and if he ever hoped to later create perfect order in Middle Earth without Morgoth, he still felt that I was a necessary part of his world. We saw each other briefly in Valinor, and that was the second to last time I saw Mairon. I saw that his love for me was true, but the rest of him was not, while Mairon saw that I was still in Arda, and perhaps with the right power, he believed he could submit me to his will. We departed ways, and I did not see him again until the Battle of the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age."

"Mairon set about crafting the great rings of power in a final attempt to subdue me, and so tricked the elven smiths. He intended to use the strength of all the great kings of elves, men, and dwarves of Middle Earth as well as his own strength, poured into the One Ring as malice and hatred for his first failed ring, and the love that he had lost. For part of Mairon has been missing ever since he separated himself from much of his physical love for me, which is embedded in my ring. He longs to be whole again, and for us to be reunited."

"I, who have not taken off my ring since it was given to me in betrayal, sensed the moment when Mairon attempted to use his ring and the other great rings of power to subdue me, but once again he failed to understand my being, and so the attempt failed. It was during this attempt that the nine kings of men fell. The failure and subsequent realization that I would never be his was what broke him, and brought about the Sauron that you know today."

"And so history has played out. I fought against him in the Battle of the Last Alliance. We spared long and hard, but neither of us could find it within ourselves to kill one another, and so we abandoned the fight and Isildur cut the ring from Mairon's hand. During the times of peace, I have traveled near and far, learning of the peoples of Middle Earth. I climbed every peak of the Misty Mountains just to know them by shape, and studied here in Rivendell long, where I made Elrond's acquaintance. I spent much time with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry, for their happy residence provided respite for my broken heart and guilt, and as well in Fangorn Forest. I have become acquainted with Gandalf on many a journey, and the people of each small hovel and town during my travels, and still I endure, waiting for the final day to dawn."

"All along I knew that the One Ring had not been destroyed for I could sense it through my own ring. I perceived the saga of the Ring was to continue, and around that time Gandalf summoned me for the journey to Erabor, where I rejoin modern tales. For the past years I have lived in Mirkwood with the Woodland Elves and Legolas, and now I have been summoned to this council to decide the fate of the Ring."

This seemed to amuse her, or maybe it was just the irony of the situation, and before anyone could stop her, she picked up the One Ring from the table before her and held it up to the light. Everyone watched with baited breath to see if she would claim it for her own, and then they all noticed that she was crying.

"That is my tale, and the full account of the Ring. You are the first, and I suspect the only group of people who will ever hear it from me, or ever hear the thing in full. Mairon is now Sauron to you, and I am probably just a foolish girl in your eyes. Yet I loved him, and he loved me, and in some way I cannot see the fault in that, no matter what consequence it brought. But it is my tale, and I am responsible for this misery, and so I will remain until the misery is either ended or complete to be whatever service I can be."

With that Adelaide set the One Ring back upon the plinth and retook her seat. She seemed both smaller with grief and greater because of her story and the council's full understanding for who and what she was. Legolas took her hand and pressed it to his lips and she burst into silent tears. Much time passed before anyone spoke.


	3. Chapter 3: The Lover

**Looonnggg chapter but hopefully a goody. As always, I own nothing. Please R &R and happy reading friends:)**

Adelaide felt a shaking down to her very core, and she clutched tightly to Legolas's hand. She could feel the familiar calluses on his finger pads, and this detail seemed to ground her mind in Rivendell and prevent her thoughts from journeying back through the ages. She had done it – told her tale, in full. Thus far no one had tried to kill her. _Legolas is still here_ she reminded herself, and she pulled the hand laced with hers towards her own lips to press his silk-like skin to her mouth and then hold it against her cheek. His gaze was burning, but, Adelaide thought with some surprise, not angry.

"I am not often left without words, but your tale has stunned me, Lady Adelaide," Elrond said, bowing his head in her direction and finally breaking the quiet. "That the Ring of Power was crafted, if not wholly, at least partly out of love? I admit it is hard to believe. But neither have you ever lied to me, nor betrayed me in our long years of friendship. I was there at the Battle of the Last Alliance and I watched you set forth all of your strength against Sauron, and I know you have never willingly aided him."

He stood then, and swept around the circle. His brow was furrowed, and he stared with much scrutiny at the woman seated across from him. Her story had brought up more questions than answers, and he longed to sit with her and question her about the world of her origin and how and why she had come to Arda, but there was no time. _Three ages I have lived, and now I have no time_ he cursed to himself. He felt a wrinkle of anger move slowly through him, but he had long ago learned to control his emotions. _Anger is the servant of Sauron, and it cannot aid me in discovering this solution to the problem of the One Ring._ Another thought nagged at Elrond's mind, and he recalled Adelaide's admittance that she had known of the existence of the One Ring the whole time.

"Yet alas do your words bring me sorrow!" Elrond continued, coming to halt before the girl. Her face was stained with tears, but if anything it enhanced the rosiness of her cheeks and the evergreen of her eyes. "To know that you comprehended the existence of the Ring since its crafting, and yet warned no one, nor told of its existence after the death of Isildur, and only now speak to us of your knowledge when Sauron too his aware once more? It is folly and foolishness on your part, and even in your age and wisdom, Lady Adelaide, I am ashamed of you."

"Your anger is well deserved, old friend," she replied, her voice unwaivering despite her tears. "Yet I believe that I can shine light on what you deem my cowardice to speak. I did not know of the creation of the other rings of power until Mairon attempted to use them against me, for that was when the bond between my own ring and the One Ring was formed and solidified. At that point, their creation was already known to you and their destruction already begun, and anything I could have said would have been useless."

"As for the persistence of the Ring after Mairon's fall? I once again show my naivety and ability to learn, despite my many thousand years of life. I thought the Ring lost, cast into the bottom of the ocean or floating among the heavens, and only became aware of its presence amongst the living when Bilbo carried it with us on our journey to the Lonely Mountain, for ever does my ring burn my skin growing hotter dependent upon the proximity of the One. Why did I not speak then? Because I was ashamed, and for that you have every right to chastise myself."

"Could you not sense when Gollum discovered it?" Frodo asked suddenly. The hobbit was taller than the others, and there was starlight in his dark eyes that gave him the appearance of wisdom. "For he often adorned it and used the ring towards his small, evil purposes."

"No, for the One Ring was designed to link myself with Mairon, just as my ring is designed only for myself, I can only sense when Mairon wears the ring. The Ring did not belong to Gollum, and while he possessed it, he did not control it, just as you do not, Frodo. The Ring has one true master, and it is only him that I can sense."

There was silence around the dais as they all considered her words, but Gandalf spoke quickly.

"I, for one, am cheered by your story. To know that the One Ring, while entirely evil, filled with Sauron's anger and malice, was forged for the sake of lost love? There is indeed some heart to be taken in that, I think."

"And what," Boromir interrupted, a dark look crossing his face, "is to prevent us from capturing you and delivering you and your ring to Mordor. If it is you that he desires so desperately, would not all of our sorrows be laid to rest if you were given to him?"

A cry of outrage came from the mouths of many of the people gathered thus. Legolas and Aragorn leapt to their feet, and Bilbo crossed his arms in disgust. Adelaide, however, smiled.

"Boromir is not wrong to ask this, and I think it is a question that many of you were considering yourselves, but had not the bravery to speak." Here she paused to scan the council, and many of the people there hung their heads in shame.

"I think that maybe just after his turning, I may have appeased him by pledging myself to him eternally, but the influence of Melkor was too strong, and soon after he joined his master he desired not only control of myself, but of all beings. If you were to deliver me to Mordor and Mairon, he would accept me certainly, but it would not stop him or deter him from his plans."

"So the question still remains," Glorfindel said, speaking for the first time, "what is to be done with the Ring?"

"It cannot be hidden, for the power of the elves and the three rings is too weak, nor do I think the Blessed Realm would receive it. Gandalf has already stated that any fire has not the heat to destroy it, and yet it cannot be hidden," Elrond explain, taking his seat once more. "It thus becomes clear to me, though it is with heavy heart I say it, that the Ring must be taken to Mordor and cast into the fires of Mount Doom where it was forged. There the Ring was done, and only there can it be undone."

This statement had everyone but Frodo and Adelaide on their feet fighting, arguing, and debating what should be done. Who would take the Ring, if anyone was to take it, and where would it go? But through the ruckus, Adelaide could her one calm voice speaking through the crowd.

"I will take it," the voice said, and then again louder, causing quiet to fall around him. "I will take the Ring to Mordor, although I do not know the way." The council cleared the center of the dais, and the all beheld Frodo, standing now. Without a word, he walked forward and grasped the Ring and returned it to the chain around his neck.

A sense of finality settled amongst the council, and there was unspoken approval for this decision. Adelaide, however, felt dread grow within, and pity for the task he was undertaking.

"For your companions, I will think long about. They will be nine, of whom I do not know yet. Let us reconvene again once the decision is made. I bade you all goodnight, and ask you to think deeply about what you have heard here today."

There was a shuffling of feet, and soon the dais was empty. Legolas helped Adelaide to her feet, and sliding his hand into her own, lead her down the stairs and towards their chambers.

The evening air was cool against her skin, and Legolas's palm was warm against her own. She made no effort to speak, only smiling softly to herself as she followed him silently down the winding, open air corridors. _He was still here_ she beamed.

Adelaide and Legolas's courtship had begun almost sixty years ago, but to the two of them, that was like the passing of a day. They had met on her journey to defeat Smaug, and then she had returned to him after the Battle of the Five Armies. What had begun the attraction? Was it that he had heard her singing, or she seen him fighting, or was it their first glance, standing before the throne of Legolas's father?

The image of him was burned into her mind, tall as a sentinel, his blonde hair glowing golden in the firelight of Thranduil's hall as she was led before the King and the Prince from the dungeons with her fellow dwarf captives.

"Long has it been since _Ú- Gwedhi_ was seen in Mirkwood, and longer since has it been since she visited the Woodland Realm," Thranduil boomed, his voice echoing throughout the chamber. Adelaide smiled where any other may have trembled in fear. She knew Thranduil, and beneath his cold exterior he was thoughtful and kind. "But though my guards may forget a face, I do not, and when I heard you were amongst the captured party, I sent for you at once. Welcome back, Lady Adelaide."

Adelaide's smile grew wider and she curtsied, although the motion was somewhat less graceful in her leather breeches and travel worn tunic.

"I see you tongue is no less sweet, Thranduil," she jested, rising out of her curtsy. "But the welcome in your hall, somewhat less generous than of past. Is there some way I can parlay on behalf of my traveling companions? Does not my good word stand for all of them?"

Thranduil laughed.

"Dark is the day, my lady, and no longer are guests as welcome as in happier times. But it stands to their testament that you are their travelling partner. May it be that we could discuss your trespass on our lands over dinner this evening? For I will not have it said that the table of Thranduil has grown slim whence you walk through my doors and continue on your journey."

Adelaide bowed in agreement. _The dwarves can wait in their cells for a few hours_ she decided, for she did not think it would take her too long to convince Thranduil of the importance of their mission.

A guard stepped forward and led her down wood carved halls to a guest chamber, where she found a bath had been prepared with steaming water and rich smelling flowers and oils. A dress too, blue as the early morning sky and rimmed with silver thread had been laid across the bed. The fabric was thin and the neckline low, but the train would spread behind her as she walked for several feet. It was a gracious gift, and she thanked her guard many times over and instructed him to repeat her thanks to the elf King.

In her room she rid herself of her tired clothing and lowered herself into the bath, letting the boiling water soothe her aching muscles. How long had it been since she was in the Woodland Realm? Many hundred years at least, and that visit only brief. In the water she allowed herself to relax, closing her eyes and letting her mind wander. The dwarves were in the dungeons, but she would see to that, and Bilbo? He was cavorting off through the Hall. Her heart froze for a moment as she thought of Bilbo and his discovery, yet to say it out loud seemed almost perilous.

She had known the moment they found him, outside of the goblin tunnels of the Misty Mountains. The typical warmth that issued from her own ring seared with flame as it had not done in thousands of years. She had almost fled from the company then, her fear so great it seemed to paralyze her. But the company had been in danger, and she has pushed aside her worries as they fled from wargs and goblins.

Under the water she fingered her ring, feeling its heat. _Bilbo is close_ she knew, for the ring had reached an uncomfortable temperature.

After her bath she dried her hair with linen and dressed. The gown slid over her head and pooled around her ankles, and she sighed in contentment at the sensation of soft silk against her skin. It was just as she was buttoning her dress when there came a knock and the door opened behind her.

The young elf who stood beside Thranduil in the throne room stood framed in the door, his blonde hair glistening and blue eyes twinkling with mirth. He was tall and narrow, with pale skin that shone like silver. Adelaide felt as if a stone had been dropped into her stomach, and slowly she turned to face him completely, matching the intensity of his blue gaze with her own green. After several moments passed in silence, he smiled, and then bowed.

"I am Legolas, son of Thranduil, Prince of Mirkwood. I welcome you to our halls." His voice was like waterfalls and his smile like sunrise.

Adelaide nodded, but said nothing. She felt as if her voice had been stolen from her. Fair was elven kind, this was known, and she had been privileged enough to meet some of the most beautiful of that race, but Legolas… A youthful joy radiated from his face and she felt a fluttering in her chest she had not felt for some time. Perhaps it was her exhaustion from the journey, or that she had spent so long alone before joining the company, but she was spellbound. Adelaide could not tell if they gazed at each other for one moment or one thousand, but suddenly the enchantment was broken and she hung her head and felt a flush spread across her face.

"Forgive me," she murmured, spreading her hands across her dress to flatten it. To her shock, laugher rang from the doorway, and looking up she saw the elf leaning against the doorframe, smirking at her.

"It is an honor to make your acquaintance," he said with a bow. Adelaide watched as his blonde hair flutter around his face as his head moved down and back up. His movements were graceful, and her heart felt like a bird trapped between ribs and lungs, beating its wings frantically.

"And yours," Adelaide responded with a curtsy and a small grin.

Leaning away from the door Legolas strode forward, his smile still plastered upon his face.

"My father sent me to escort you to dinner," he said, coming to a halt on her right and offering her his arm. Adelaide took it after a pause to consider, and then they swept through the door down the hall.

They walked without speaking, and only the sound of Adelaide's dress brushing across the floor could be heard. And then suddenly Legolas laughed again, and she turned to find he was already staring at her.

"What," she demanded, affronted. Most men did not have the nerve, nor the desire, to laugh at her face.

"Nothing," he murmured, scanning her face and beaming. There was something in his happiness that Adelaide found infectious, even magnetic, and she felt herself smiling back up at him.

They continued on in silence, Adelaide's bare feet padding softly on the wooden floors. _Forgot my shoes_ she mused. And then another thought hit her and Adelaide came to a halt and clapped a hand to her mouth.

"I forgot my sword," she said, thinking of the weapon and its sheath that she had left beside the bath when she had discarded her clothing. She hardly ever went anywhere without it, save in Lorien or Rivendell or the Blessed Realm, where it was considered rude to walk about armed. Legolas shrugged.

"You are safe within our halls, you need not be armed while you are in the Woodland Realm," he reassured her. Shaking her head at him she dropped his arm and turned back.

"It was a gift, I go nowhere without it."

Adelaide had taken perhaps three steps when she felt a slight breeze and heard the gentle patter of feet and saw a golden blur as Legolas sped past her and around the corner. Seconds later he had returned, clutching her worn leather belt which her sword hung from.

Before she could take it from him, Legolas had stepped towards her, so close that she could feel the warmth that radiated off of his body.

"Here…" he whispered, leaning in so that his lips brushed her ear and his blonde hair her cheek. Slowly, Legolas's tender fingers traced Adelaide's waist, bringing the belt with it.

Adelaide closed her eyes, attempting to suppress the shivers that wracked her body. She felt him drag his thumb around the side of her stomach, and then synch the belt down in her front…

Adelaide was drawn from her revelry when a strong pair of hands came to rest on either side of her waist. _The same hands_ , and then she felt Legolas's body pulled flush against her own. He smelled of pine and hyacinth as he always did, and she tucked her face into the crook of his neck, resting her head on his shoulder.

" _Nin mel_ ," He whispered now, moving his hands to cup the back of her head, fingers intertwined in her hair, and her lower back. His lips found hers, gentle and steady at first, but deepening as she parted her lips and allowed his tongue into her mouth. He tasted of sweet wine, and it was several moments before they broke apart, panting slightly.

"Are you mad with me?" She whispered, stepping back and taking his hand once more, leading him through the archway into their quarters and closing the door behind her. She felt his thumb brush back and forth across her knuckles and she turned to see him, smirking at her. She felt a knot in her back loosen; Legolas's smirks occurred when he was pleased.

Releasing his hand, Adelaide moved across the room where she began to loosen the belt around her waist. But again Legolas was behind her, his nimble fingers pulling the belt from her waist, dragging his hands along her stomach.

"No, _nin mel_ , I am not mad," he mumbled, taking the belt and sword and laying it on a chest before returning behind her. "I have no right to demand a story like that from you, although a small part of me does wish that you had trusted me with it, not just out of need."

Legolas placed his hands on her shoulders, and looping his thumbs under the fabric of her dress, began to push the gown down her shoulders until it pooled on the ground at her feet. He pulled her close to him then, wrapping his arms around her stomach and pulling her tightly against his chest, his face buried in her hair and neck. He could hear her sigh, and felt her fingertips brush the backs of his hands, but she did nothing more. They stood in this position for some time, neither one making any effort to speak, enjoying one another's company.

Adelaide was exhausted, and Legolas could feel the slight shake of her body. Yet she made no attempt to talk, and so Legolas did not ask. It had always been this way, ever since their first meeting as he escorted her to dinner. She was… _hypnotic_ he mused to himself, and still secretive. She was young in spirit but old in knowledge and understanding, wise but impulsive, brave but secluded.

"Do not get attached," Thranduil had warned Legolas one afternoon nearly sixty years ago as the rode through the woods in the dappled, evening light. Adelaide had departed from their halls for the Lonely Mountain a few days previous, for while she was at dinner the rest of the company had escaped through the cellar in barrels down the river, and Adelaide had lingered to gather supplies and rest for one more day before following their trail.

Legolas surveyed his father, breaking from another trance in which he had been recalling a pair of serious green eyes. Thranduil was smiling knowingly at his son, but there was sadness in his gaze and gave his head a small shake. Beneath him, Legolas's horse moved through the grass with hardly a sound, moving at a steady trot.

"It is not attachment," Legolas stated slowly. "It is more…more like being struck. My head feels clouded and sometimes I must remind myself to breathe."

Here, Thranduil laughed. His dulcet tones rolled throughout the trees around him and Legolas smiled, even if the laughter was at his own expense. His father was not often without worry, and it was good to see him like this.

"Clouded? Dumb more like," Thranduil accused with mirth. "I have been watching you since she departed – your eyes move but see nothing, you eat but you do not taste. You appear like a stranger in your own home."

Legolas felt a burning on his cheeks, but he could hear the truth in his father's words.

"I know what she is like," Thranduil murmured, and Legolas wondered for a moment his father's meaning. "It is easy to be hoodwinked by her charm, and while I believe she means no harm, she is not…suitable."

"The Great Wanderer," he said with a deep sigh, his face growing dark as he passed under a shadow. " _Ú- Gwedhi_ , without bind, the Boundless. She has traveled Middle Earth since its birth, perhaps before. Neither elf nor man, her presence has always been recognized to those of us who are learned, but none have ever understood her or truly come to know her. She does not part with her secrets easily, and I suspect she hides much power from us." At this statement, Legolas scoffed. He remembered her narrow frame and doubted that great power could be held there, and yet as he considered it, he recalled the timeless glint of her eyes and the feeling that grew in his gut that time did not seem to move around her.

"She is looking for something, or waiting. For what I do not know, but her coming to my realm during this shadow casts fear into my heart. She has wandered every path of Middle Earth, and perhaps created some of her own. She weaves in and out of the tales of our land if one looks closely enough at our histories, and yet belongs to no one and no land. Her existence is lonely, and if by chance she chooses to stay somewhere, or with someone," Thranduil added, "she leaves, in eventuality."

And yet despite Thranduil's misgivings, Adelaide _had_ returned. She had appeared one day at noon, a couple of months after the conclusion of the Battle of Five Armies. Her face had been blank, and her clothes ragged, and she had had little to say for many weeks. But when it became clear that she intended to stay, at least for the present, Legolas began to find ways to be around her. Riding, basking in the treetops, sparing, wandering the long halls of his father's halls. Their companionship grew slowly, until one evening when Legolas could no longer bear the tension, and he appeared and her doorway in the middle of the night, professions of love spilling from his lips.

And for a time things had been blissful, and they were hardly separated. Traveling the woods for many days at a time, and occasionally making their way down to Laketown or Dale, but never to the Lonely Mountain for Adelaide had some silent reason for not wishing to return, Legolas received a glimpse into her long and complex life.

But Thranduil had been right, and as months turned into years, Adelaide grew restless. Where her silences before had been apart of her, they now felt prolonged and Legolas sense a longing for _something_. While the love he received was strong as ever, he felt that his grasp on her was slipping. _She is the boundless_ Legolas thought to himself, and he understood. To love her was a privilege, but not a promise, and he would have to consider only the present moment, because thinking of a future in which she had journey on wracked his body with grief.

Legolas's mind was brought back to the present as he felt Adelaide pull away from him and walked over to the window. He stood, cold without her warmth pulled against him, and watched as she leaned against the railing and surveyed the valley below her. The moon glowed on her bare skin, but Legolas felt nothing but melancholy. Adelaide's face was blank, something he had come to recognize as well hidden sadness. He watched her for a moment long before turning away and changing before climbing into the bed they shared.

It was just as he was drifting into sleep that he felt her join him in bed. She slid next to him and traced a finger along his collarbone, her finger hardly touching his skin.

" _Im mel cin_ ," she murmured.


	4. Chapter 4: The Memory

**Learn of Aragorn and Adelaide's...awkward past. Hope that you have all enjoyed so far, I'm going to try and keep updating regularly. Please read and review so I know if you like it so far, or if I'm like wacko or who knows! Anyways, thanks for being here and happy reading:)**

Adelaide awoke in the morning and dressed and slipped away without waking Legolas, closing the door softly behind her. The morning was bright and clear, and there was a crispness to the air that hinted at a swiftly approaching winter. Strapping on her sword, she glided down the breezeways, making her way slowly towards the kitchens where she would be able to find a bite to eat.

She felt a bit unsure what to do with herself, now that her journey to _Imladris_ was complete and her story told. _Yet another waiting game_ she wanted to laugh aloud, although she knew this one would be completed quickly as Elrond decided who Frodo's companions would be. Would she be chosen? Adelaide could not decide if she wanted to be asked, or if she thought she would, but who had a better claim to the journey than herself?

The kitchens were empty, but she found platters of fruit and decanters of sweet wines, a glass of which she poured for herself. The liquid was cool and sugary as she took a sip, and after eating her fair share of berries, she departed to wander the halls.

It had been long since she had been to _Imladris_ , for she had not returned since the fateful night Elrond read the moon runes for Thorin before the company had set out for Erabor, but she had not forgotten a single crevice or cranny. For centuries during the Second Age, Adelaide had dwelt in the elven haven, reading scrolls and adding her own knowledge. The last homely house west of the Misty Mountains had earned its name for the elves shared everything with her, from the bread on their tables to their songs and stories. But even this home, with its many wonders, could not hold her infinitely. What good was reading histories that one had lived through, or studying constellations that she herself had created? The elves at the time had known nothing of her past, and so they saw her restlessness as an eccentricity, and so she had disappeared in the middle of the night without a word.

As she made her way back through the halls, the first beams of sunlight began to spread long shadows across the floors. Birds could be heard singing on their way back to nests after early morning feasts and the wind rippled playfully through the trees. Without remembering her decision to do so, she made her way towards the stables where she knew she would find her storm-gray charger, Bayne, waiting for her.

Located in a secluded corner of _Imladris_ , the stables were large and airy, and they smelled of fresh hay and oats. Adelaide smiled gently to several of the elves who were feeding the horses, she made her way down the long aisle until she spotted a familiar gray muzzle poking through the feed window.

"Hello," Adelaide whispered, pressing her hands into his mane and leaning her forehead against him. Bayne was the foal of her warhorse before him, and so on and so forth down a line of noble stallions. One of his foals would be her horse next, and continuing on until the time in which she would leave Middle Earth.

She was feeling Bayne a fistful of oats when she saw a familiar figure enter the barn far off to her left.

Aragorn was strolling up the center aisle between the two rows of stalls – he had yet to notice her. Shrinking into the shadows, she observed him. It had been many years since they had last met, and the ranger had aged well. He was now fully grown, with dark, wavy hair and serious gray eyes that wrinkled in the corners from laughter. His build was strong, tall and narrow like the kings of old, and his skin was tanned and scarred from days in the wild. He was handsome, in a rugged, worn sort of manner, but his movements were graceful and hinted at his upbringing here in _Imladris_. As he scanned the stalls, his head turned on a swivel until his gray eyes locked on Adelaide's green and he stopped.

" _Mae de 'ovannen_ ," he said with a bow. Adelaide noticed his use of the formal greeting, and nodded her head in return.

"What brings you to the stables this morning," Adelaide asked, absentmindedly running her fingers through Bayne's mane.

"To see if Master Samwise's pony is being well fed, and if I think it will be able to continue on the journey with us from _Imladris_."

"So you plan to accompany Frodo?" Adelaide asked, somewhat shocked. She had thought he would return straight to Gondor, seeing as it was the fabled time in which Isildur's heir would retake the throne.

"I will journey with Frodo so long as our paths run the same course, but eventually I will go to Gondor to be of whatever service I can," he replied, answering her question. He spoke quickly, and there was a tension in his shoulders that captured the awkwardness of the interaction.

Their first and last meeting had been during Adelaide's stay with the wood elves. He had come dragging the creature Gollum, and begged Thranduil to keep the creature locked away for the safety of all. It had been a cold afternoon during one of the coldest winters in recent years. Legolas was out on a patrol, for dark things had crept back into the forest, and he had begged Adelaide not to accompany him for her own safety, although they both knew she was a capable fighter. That was why she found herself seated at the bottom of Thranduil's throne, barefooted and stretched out reading a scroll on deep set magics that lived in Mirkwood when Aragorn had approached the throne, freshly washed and perhaps still a bit shaken from his time with Gollum.

" _Galdol_ , Aragorn, son of Arathorn, to my halls. Your coming is welcome, for long have I heard news of you from Elrond and Gandalf alike. Elf friend you are, and a warm bed a cheer you shall always find here while I rule," Thranduil said, his deep voice rolling like a strong current over boulders.

" _De vilui_ ," Aragorn replied, pressing his right palm to his heard and bowing. "I shall not tarry long in the Woodland Realm, although your generosity warms me. My home is to the North and the West, and for too long have I been away." Here, he paused and Adelaide felt his eyes flicker to her face. She made a slow point of setting down her scroll and lifting her eyes to his, for she had heard much of this ranger and wanted to take the full measure of him. She was struck by his rugged beauty and forlornness of his eyes, but said nothing. Noticing Aragorn's eyes, Thranduil introduced her.

"This is Adelaide, daughter of none. _Erui Adaneth,_ the _Ú- Gwedhi_ , the Great Wanderer. She is a guest here in my halls and often gives me council."

As she listened, Adelaide watched as Aragorn's eyes gave a flicker of recognition, but he kept his face level and calm. If he was impressed, he did not show it.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Ranger," Adelaide said, maintaining her eye contact with him. "Long has it been since I met one of the Dunedain of the North. Your people always showed me great kindness and gave aid to me in times of my need."

"I hope that I can live up to your expectations, Lady Adelaide," he said. Something in his tone of voice was issued as a challenge, and she could hear the confidence in his voice. Returning his attention to the King, he spoke:

"If I may be allowed to regain my strength for a week or two before journeying on, it would be greatly appreciated."

Thranduil agreed to this, and Aragorn made his exit with another deep bow.

As Aragorn made his way through the winding, wood carved halls, his mind lingered over his first impression of the King and the woman who had been sitting at his feet. _Ú- Gwedhi…_ he thought with wonder. _She is much as I expected her to be, beautiful and yet…distant._ He had fallen into his bed immediately upon arriving at his chambers, and slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Sometime in the night Aragorn awoke to complete darkness. For one moment he was alarmed, and then he recalled that he was safe in the Woodland Realm and the creature Gollum was locked away. Taking a deep breath, he rubbed his hands across his chin and exhaled. How long had it been since he slept well? And now that he was rested, he felt more energy than he had felt in many moons. Resigning himself to the fact that he would not be able to fall asleep again for some time, he got to his feet and slid on his boots.

The cavernous halls glowed like caramel as he wandered aimlessly, the torches glowing low in the late time. He passed no one during his journey, and found himself humming quietly the lay of Beren and Luithien. It was as he approached the great entrance that he heard the first commotion of the night.

Hovering in an adjoining passage, he watched behind the trunk of a great tree as the doors were open and a troop of ten to twelve elves, all heavily outfitted with light, leather armor and weapons entered. Their movements were weary, but graceful as every, and they all wore relieved expressions. At the rear was a particularly tall elf with blonde hair that shone like silver. He was speaking quickly and he bore a large smile. _Their captain_ Aragorn assumed as he surveyed the group.

Suddenly, there was a shriek and none other than the Lady Adelaide came scampering up the stairs from the throne room. Her honey colored curls streamed behind her, and she grasped fistfuls of her extravagant gold dress as she ran with surprising speed barefooted up the stairs and across the hall. Her face shone with wonder and pure joy, and Aragorn felt a lurching in his stomach that he could not name. Before her, the group of soldiers split, many of them with broad smiles, as she sped towards the tall, blonde captain. When she reached him she leapt into his grasp, his arms winding around her waist and hers around his neck. They spun for a second before he set her down, pulling her face towards hers for a long kiss. _Who was he to make the Ú- Gwedhi behave so…childishly_ Aragorn wondered.

He watched as the rest of the troop grasped shoulders, exchanged words and slowly began to disperse. To Aragorn's chagrin, when he turned back to the figures of Adelaide and the blonde elf, he found them laying upon the floor of the entrance hall.

The elf was atop Adelaide, who lay on her back with her skirts pushed up past her hips and legs wrapped around the captain's waist. Aragorn felt himself blush violently, and made to turn away, but he could not. His eyes were locked on the scene unfolding before him, and he felt like he could not control his legs or will his eyes to close. He heard their cries of passion, and watched as the elf placed his hands on either side of Adelaide's head and kissed her, his body moving with a steady rhythm as he thrust into her. Echoing up to Aragorn's hiding position he could hear Adelaide moan, and then give a great shriek before her legs fell from around the elf's body. He kissed her one last time before rolling off of her, pulling the woman onto his chest.

Aragorn had never seen someone make love so _publicly_ , and he was astounded. After some time, they stood and kissed once more before leaving the hall through separate entrances.

"I will bring refreshment to your room," he heard Adelaide call out with a laugh as she practically ran from the hall. The elf captain watched her go with a broad smile on his face before he turned and exited to his left.

Aragorn stood rooted to the spot for an unknown amount of time, feeling dazed, before he recalled where he was and what time it was. Stirring himself into movement, he turned to leave the way he had come and found the passage blocked.

Adelaide stood in the middle of the hall, hand crossed before her chest and a beaming smile upon her face. Aragorn felt his mouth fall open. _How did she sneak up on me?_ Her cheeks were red, but she did not seem embarrassed, and in fact seemed to be holding her head higher than she had in the throne room earlier that day. There was no question, she had to know what Aragorn had seen, for why else would he be standing there?

"My Lady," he said with a bow, his voice croaking in his shame. To his surprise, Adelaide laughed.

"I could feel a pair of wandering eyes upon us in the hall, but I never thought it would be you, Noble Ranger," she said in amusement. She seemed to find the entire situation extremely comical.

"Forgive me, I should have never…" Aragorn started, but she laughed again.

"Why are you apologizing? We knew what risk we were running in the hall, and yet we acted anyways. I am not ashamed to love Legolas, nor him me. Have no fear that we will be angry."

They both grew silent, and finally Adelaide curtsied.

"I promised I would bring Legolas food and drink – he is just returned from a month long patrol of the elves northern borders, and is tired. I shall see you in the morning, although that is not far off," Adelaide said with a smile.

With one final smirk, she had swept off past him, her dress hissing on the ground and the gems in the fabric scraped the smooth floor.

Both Adelaide and Aragorn were remembering this last encounter as they stared at each other in the stables of _Imladris_ , neither one offering to speak. Behind Adelaide Bayne snorted and stamped his hooves, and the moment was over.

"I think I may go for a ride, would you care to join me," Adelaide asked, taking herself by surprise, for she had not intended to offer. Even more to her surprise was the curt nod he gave her before moving off to find tack and a horse that suited him.

Adelaide dressed Bayne, layering on blankets, pads and finally his saddle before tightening his girth and pulling on his bridle. She leapt lightly into the saddle and adjusted her gown, before leading Bayne out of the stables to wait on Aragorn. By now the sun had risen and the morning had dawned, bathing the valley in a golden glow. Far off, moving about the home elves could be seen strolling in the gardens and along breezeways, their movements slow and unhurried.

A few moments later Adelaide heard the steady clopping of hooves and looked over her shoulder to see Aragorn atop a large, Bay charger. Without a word they made their way down the path that would eventually lead to the foot of the falls, Adelaide taking the lead. After a while, Aragorn broke the silence.

"Will you accompany Frodo?" He asked hesitantly, as if he thought he was overstepping some boundary. Adelaide considered his question.

"I feel as if the decision should obvious. I am responsible for this sad tale of the rings, and I should be present to finish it. Yet I have spent centuries avoiding any relation, and above all else avoiding Mordor and the spirit that lies within. It would be untruthful for me to not admit how much I dread any such reunion with Mairon," she said with a sigh. Beneath them, the path curved down and the the right, the sound of the waterfall growing louder.

"Do you think you could be of aid on the journey?" Aragorn asked.

"Yes, I suppose. The ring has no effect on me, and I know Mairon better than any alive. I alone may be able to guess his intentions."

"Then it seems clear to me that you must come!" Aragorn exclaimed, his voice encouraging. "Never before has any journey been more dangerous, and we will need all of the aid we can… especially Frodo," Aragorn added.

Adelaide said nothing, and they rode in silence, the path ever curving down and to the right. She did not know why she shied away from the journey. It was clear to her that she must go, and yet she loathed the idea of drawing close to Mordor, or even worse Mairon. Perhaps it was years of denial, and of avoiding the place that made her wish to stay away, but her heart hinted that it may be something more.

"I will speak with Lord Elrond and see what he advises I do. If he wishes for me to go, then I will. Even if he wishes for me to stay, I will consider it. My fate is tied more closely with that of the Ring than any others, and I feel like I owe it to the living to go."

"Perhaps," Aragorn said gently as the reached the base of the falls and the path widened, allowing Aragorn to pull his charger beside Adelaide and Bayne, "you owe it to yourself to go. To see the evil gone, to see your guilt assuaged. Not all tales must end in misery, even one as long as your own." He smiled at her then before dismounting, leaving Adelaide alone to her thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5: The Fellowship

**Woohoo I'm super excited about this chapter - I hope you like it. Please read and review, and thanks for being here! Happy reading:)**

The days passed in peace while they dwelt in _Imladris_ , and Adelaide spent most of her time with Legolas, or talking with Gandalf when he was not too busy meeting with Elrond or muttering to himself as he walked in circles. Even the peace in Rivendell was cracking as the impending setout of the fellowship approached; all awaited with anxious breath to see who Elrond would select for the journey to Mordor.

Although Adelaide had spent much time in _Imladris_ and the home no longer held secrets to her, it was Legolas's first time, and so she showed him her favorite walks and gardens, took him sparring in the armory grounds, read to him from her favorite scrolls, and introduced him to friends she had met long ago. Legolas and Glorfindel became fast friends, although, Adelaide thought with a smile, _Legolas became fast friends with everyone_. The older elf lord found Legolas a challenging sparring partner: he used a broadsword and Legolas knives, so it provided for interesting combat.

It was at the armory grounds Gandalf found them one chilly afternoon, Legolas, Glorfindel and Aragorn were all circling each other like wolves around a fresh kill.

"If you want to rest feel free to any time," Aragorn said, taunting Legolas, his words coming in short spirts between pants. Legolas laughed and it sounded like water falling on a tin roof.

"After you, youngling," he replied, spinning suddenly to his right to bring his knives down towards Aragorn's stomach. But the Ranger's blade was there to deflect the blow, and with a clang the two sprang back and all three began their circling again.

It had gone on for some time like this, one attacking another and none ever gaining the upper hand. Adelaide sat perched under a dogwood tree, watching them.

"You'll have to be faster than that Legolas," she called when his attack was foiled again. This caused him to smile over at her, his blue eyes flashing.

"If you wish to impress her," Glorfindel said, his blade whirling while he spoke, his body moving through the air as fluid as water, "you will have to be quicker."

The elf lord had suddenly released much of his pent up skill, perhaps tired of the long battle, and with three quick strikes, both of Legolas's knives and Aragorn's sword lay on the ground.

"Legolas's has a long way to go before he can impress me with _knives_ ," Adelaide said, getting to her feet and picking up the two weapons which lay in the dirt and handing them to her lover.

"I suppose you forget that the last time we sparred, I bested you," he said with a laugh, accepting the blades from her and flipping them in his hands. Adelaide placed her hands on her hips and sent him a scathing look, but it only made Legolas laugh, and with a sudden lunge he pulled her against him and planted a quick series of kisses down her jaw.

"Those are words for a challenge, if I heard them correctly," Aragorn said with a smile, stowing his sword and wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

"I agree, that is high talk from the one sitting in the shade," Glorfindel said, knowing fully well how skilled Adelaide was with a blade.

She surveyed the group assembled, turning in Legolas's arms to look about her. Two of the hobbits, Merry and Pippen had arrived and stood like anxious children on the edge of the group. Another gathering of elves and blacksmiths stood by the forge doors. Aragorn and Glorfindel had taken her seat under the dogwood.

"You would ask me to ruin my beautiful gown, a gift from Lord Elrond himself?" She said in mockery, knowing fully well that the dress would not prevent her from fighting.

"Shall we," she felt a gentle voice whisper in her ear, and turning, she looked up and saw Legolas staring at her. His face was glowing, his skin almost like silver, and his eyes wide. In it was the childlike joy she had seen in him when he picked her up from her chambers on their first meeting. She almost faltered, seeing the openness in his expression, and her heart swelled for a moment. _How pure_ she thought, wanting to run her fingers across his jawline.

"Yes, it would be my honor," she said breathlessly, her heart still swelling with the tenderness in his gaze. Her head swam as his blue eyes poured into her own, and with one final kiss on her cheek, Legolas suddenly pushed her away, drawing his knives as he did so.

Adelaide, who was unready for the sudden movement was left stumbling, and she drew her blade at her hip as Legolas began to circle her, smirking.

"Cheat," she hissed amongst the laughter around her. She crouched and began to spin, her bare feet tracing circles in the dirt. She felt the worn leather grip in her palms, the familiar grooves like the handshake of an old friend.

"Be gentle, Legolas," Aragorn laughed. Adelaide sent him a sidelong glance – the ranger and the elf had become quick friends in their short time together in _Imladris_ , continuing the friendship that had blossomed in Mirkwood.

While Legolas was flipping one of his knives, Adelaide struck. She brought her blade around her head with a whirl and brought it down towards Legolas's shoulder, the elf only just managing to bring his knives into place in the nick of time. It had been a simple first strike, and he had no trouble countering.

They began a long series of blows and counterblows, one stepping forward and another stepping back. Their blades flashed in the air, and each time they met, Adelaide felt her arms tremble with the strength in Legolas's blows. Clashes rang out clear and unhindered in the yard, and occasionally a cheer could be heard for a particularly good strike. Adelaide and Legolas had spared each other so many times, they had ceased to surprised one another, knowing each others skills and weaknesses perhaps better than they knew their own.

Adelaide blocked one of Legolas's knives as it sped towards her face, and then, jumped back as his second knife curved around towards her stomach. He was laughing as he danced about her, and Adelaide felt herself smiling. If only she wasn't in this forsaken dress and she would have already bested the elf, but the gown kept her relatively stationary. Legolas knew this, and did not stay in one spot for more than one second, moving around her like a blonde blur.

 _How to make him stay still_ she wondered as she parried another blow at her hip. Suddenly, Adelaide had an idea, and she could not prevent the smirk that slid onto her face.

Legolas, seeing her smirk, began a complicated series of blows, his knives slicing through the air like fresh churned butter. They connected with fury against Adelaide's sword, and she backed up, giving ground with each blow. He leapt into the air, spinning, intending to bring both his blades down on Adelaide's own and knock her sword from her grasp, but Adelaide seized her moment.

Dropping to the ground, she reached up and grabbed Legolas's ankle as he passed over her, and drawing upon her strength she yanked him to the ground. He landed with a _thud_ upon his back, and before Legolas could respond, she had rolled from her crouched position to kneel atop him, her knees pressed into the ground on either side of his stomach. Adelaide's sword rested on Legolas's neck.

Around them there was a smattering of applause and whoops and hollers, but Adelaide could not focus on anything accept the feeling of Legolas's chest rise and fall under her body as he struggled for breath, and the wonder in his eyes as he gazed into her own eyes.

As Adelaide lifted her sword from his neck, Legolas lunged, knocking her weapon out of her hand and into the dirt. Adelaide let out a shriek of surprise as they rolled so that Legolas had her pinned underneath him on the grass. His blonde hair glowed like it held the intensity of the stars in it as the sun shone behind his face, and the elf pressed his forehead to Adelaide's.

"You've had a few thousand years more practice than myself," he said with a chuckle. His breath was warm against her cheek, and then without warning he kissed her deeply, his lips moving harshly against her own, Legolas's tongue invading her mouth. He pushed her into the grass, his body pressed tightly against her own, and Adelaide felt an oozing warmth form in the bottom of her stomach. There was a murmur of surprise from the group around them, but Adelaide did not care. She wrapped her arms around Legolas's neck and pulled him closer, if that was possible. The blood rushing through her veins longed to melt into the body pressed against her, but before she could act on her desires, Legolas had pulled away and was on his feet, leaving Adelaide panting on the ground.

"I win," he said with a smirk. "Knives are not my only weapon, try not to let your guard down so easily." Adelaide flushed and sat up upon her elbows. There was a loud laugh from behind her, and she turned to see Aragorn laughing. His typically gray eyes were wrinkled with a smile, and Adelaide flushed a deeper shade of red.

Once he had basked in his victory a bit longer, Legolas stooped, and placing one hand on either side of her waist, pulled Adelaide to her feet.

"I should have known to find all of you young warriors down at the smithy," said a granite voice from behind with a hint of amusement. Turning, Adelaide saw Gandalf leaning on his staff, mirth in his gray eyes. "Lord Elrond has summoned you all for a council. The Fellowship is to be announced this evening."

Despite the sunlight shinning down upon all assembled, they each felt a shiver run through them. Adelaide shrugged, feeling that her fate, at least, was decided. _Lord Elrond will certainly choose me – it is my duty to end this misery I started_. Glancing around her, she saw that Aragorn too did not seem phased by this, but the two hobbits were quaking and Legolas seemed drawn. When the elf prince noticed her staring, he gave his shoulders a slight shake and then offered her his hand, helping her too her feet. Adelaide grabbed her sword, and then the group began making its way towards the council room. Glancing at Legolas again, she saw none of the seriousness that had been in his eyes a moment before, and so she thought nothing of it.

When they arrived in the council room, they found Elrond already seated in his high chair, and the two dwarves as well as Frodo, Sam, and Bilbo seated in their chairs. Boromir filed in shortly after Adelaide and Legolas took their seats, as well as many more high born elves. When at last the council was all seated, Elrond stood.

"The time has come for the Fellowship to be chosen and to set off. Once chosen, you may back out, or else go on to face all the dangers associated with the task given to you," Elrond said, staring intently at each person gathered round in turn.

"Only you, Frodo, must continue on until the end, for you agreed to this task, and it has been assigned to you."

The hobbit nodded and then stood, and despite his small size, Adelaide thought he looked quite noble with the golden rays of a setting sun alighting upon his black curls like a crown. Frodo padded silently over to the edge of the dais and waiting, his face stoic and smooth.

"I will call forth the members of the fellowship. You have been chosen to represent the races of Middle Earth, for we are all tied to this One Doom. Although each of you has agreed to this undertaking previously, speak now if your heart wavers, for your journey will be long and sore." Elrond took a deep breath and then he began.

"Representing men, Aragorn, son of Arathorn and Isildur's heir shall go, for his fate is closely tied with that of the Ring, as well as Boromir, Captain of Gondor, who is a noble warrior," Elrond seemed to chant, his voice billowing above them. Both men stood and went to stand beside Frodo.

"Gandalf the Gray shall go too, for this is to be his last great quest on Middle Earth, and he has the power to see the company through."

Again, Gandalf stood and meandered to where the Fellowship was gathering.

"For the Dwarves, Gimli son of Gloin has agreed to go. May your axe be keen, Master Dwarf."

Gimli stood, as did his father, and they embraced gruffly, the elder whispering something into his son's ear before Gimli shuffled over to the Fellowship and his father returned to his seat. All of these choices thus far seemed obvious to Adelaide; it was the next choice that intrigued her the most.

"For the elves," Elrond began, and Adelaide glanced at Glorfindel out of the corner of her eyes, but the elf lord did not flinch. It seemed obvious to Adelaide that he would go, or if not him, one of Elrond's sons. They were all old, and wise in magic and lore, and their strength had been tested on many occasions in battle. One of the three of them would be a simple choice and add great power to the company.

"For the elves," Elrond repeated again, "Legolas of the Woodland Realm shall go."

Beside her, Legolas sprang to his feet and walked over to the Fellowship – he did not glance back.

 _Legolas…of the Woodland Realm…_ The words seamed to echo in her head, yet Adelaide could not comprehend. _Legolas? Why would he go into such peril?_ Adelaide felt as if her body was being slowly submerged in ice-water. First her legs went numb, and then the chill began to creep up her stomach and into her chest. Her breathing was being compressed, her hands were shaking as the grasped desperately at the armrests on her chair. _Not Legolas…he will…he will…DIE!_ Adelaide felt a wail bubbling up inside her, and a drop of hysteria spread throughout her veins as the chill began to creep up her neck and freeze her brain.

So horrified was she that she missed the final announcement of the last three members: Masters Samwise, Peregrin, and Meriadoc. But what did she care? Legolas was in danger, and suddenly the cold snapped from her limbs and she felt a raging fire build within her. _How_ dare _Elrond choose him, it was not his place to put Legolas in harms way_. Every fiber of her being was on edge, and she felt like one wrong word of move could send all of her withheld power blasting from every corner of her, causing the entire group to be blown backwards as if trapped in a hurricane. And how had Adelaide not been chosen? She had shied for it since the announcement of the plans, but now Adelaide would rather take the journey on herself than risk Legolas's life for a danger he had no relation too. Dazed, she got to her feet without thinking, her vision swimming and ears ringing.

Elrond, noticing her movements, stopped mid-speech, and all eyes in the room turned to face her. Taking one deep breath, and then a second, Adelaide willed her heart to steady itself, and then spoke.

"Lord Elrond," she paused and attempted to control her voice, which sounded like boulders grinding over each other. "Your choice for the Fellowships is yours, as is it wise, but I ask that I be granted this one boon." Again she paused, she knew that she could not shame Legolas publicly – she would have to convince him not to go when the council had retired, but she could ask for _this_. "Allow me to accompany the Fellowship, not as a member, but just as a…. second party," she said, grasping for words. "I am a skilled fighter, and know these lands well. And my fate, more than Frodo or Aragorn's nor any other alive, is tied to the One Ring. Let me go, and see the evil that I brought into this world destroyed." Her voice broke, and she could feel some of the fire inside her die as she felt the guilt she typically worked so hard to suppress welling up inside her.

Elrond said nothing and just stared at her, his eyes cold and unseeing as he thought. Around them, no one spoke, and the sun set behind the mountains.

"Please…" she said again, and her voice was hoarse with grief, and she took her seat because suddenly her legs could no longer support her. Why did he not answer? _Who better knows the enemy than I_ she wanted to scream.

"You were the sole reason I debated for so long about the Fellowship, for all other choices were clear to me, Adelaide," Elrond began finally. "You speak truly; your fate _is_ tied to that of the Ring, more than any other. But I must ask you this, and you must answer truthfully, for the fate of many rests on your answer." Her he paused, and his head turned to the side slightly, as if an owl surveying the ground floor from the canopy.

"You admitted that during the Battle of the Last Alliance, you could not bring yourself to kill Sauron, for you still loved him. Your love for him was so great, that you only reported his betrayal when it became concrete, not when the wisdom in your heart told you to fear. You still call him Mairon, though that spirit is long dead. If I give you my blessing to accompany the Fellowship, for I have not the power to forbid you if you truly desire to go, can you promise that your heart will not betray you? Will you hinder the mission in order to protect the one who is undeserving of your love?"

And suddenly Adelaide did not see Elrond, but was standing upon a mossy, green knoll, her bare feet sinking into the moist dirt. Her gown was white and loose fitting, and it billowed in the stiff breeze that came from the ocean behind her. The sound of waves crashing against rock pounded in her ears, but Adelaide's eyes and attention were fixed upon the figure in front of her.

Mairon's long, black hair whipped around his face, and his black robes flapped in the wind. He was smiling, and the smarting breeze had turned his cheeks pink. He fidgeted before her, bursts of laugher spilling from his lips randomly.

"What, Mairon?" Adelaide asked, reaching out and tucking a strand of black hair behind his ear. She had not seen him this anxious since he unveiled the forest he built in their shared room. Running her fingers from behind his ear down his jawline, she lifted up his chin so that his eyes met hers.

"Please tell me," she said with a laugh.

"It's just, I've got you a gift," he spluttered with another laugh, "and I'm nervous you won't like it."

"Have I ever not liked anything you've given me before?" Adelaide asked, rocking her wait onto her left hip and crossing her arms in front of her in indignation. But Mairon was always this anxious before giving a gift, and Adelaide found it charming in a certain way.

"No, no, of course not. It's just that… well… the gifts you give me go on living. They are flowers that bloom in the spring, or star shapes that glow for all to see. My gifts are cold and metal and they do not live on." Mairon said with a shrug. Adelaide opened her mouth to retort that she did not care, but Mairon shook his head and she fell silent.

"But this gift is different," and from his pocket, he pulled out a small, golden ring. Adelaide gasped, and peered closely at its perfect surface and admired the way the setting sun caused it to gleam. "I know it's just a ring, but when you wear it, you'll be able to feel my love for you, and… well… my love is living."

Adelaide felt her chest swell with pride and before he could react she pulled him in for a deep kiss, intertwining her fingers through his hair. Perhaps this was why he had been behaving so unnaturally recently – was it because he was nervous over this ring? His arms wrapped around her waist, and she felt a warmth spread from her stomach down her limbs. When at last they pulled apart, Adelaide gave him an embarrassed smile.

"It's perfect," she murmured, and Mairon beamed.

"Might I?" He asked, holding up the ring, and Adelaide nodded. With gentle fingers, he grasped her right hand, and in one swift motion, slid the band, which was surprisingly cold, down her middle finger.

For one moment, she was admiring the golden band on her hand, and the next she could recall nothing but pain. Fire ripped up her arm and spread throughout her, peeling apart every inch of her being, raking up and down her nerves. She could not remember her name, nor why she was burning, only that her entire body threatened to be consumed by the heat.

And then from within her chest a while glow sprang, and the flames were pushed back, receding first from her legs and then from her chest and stomach. Her body had become a battle ground, and she waited helplessly to see if the invading heat or the internal glow would win. The fire was being contained, forced back down her arm as the glow expanded, sewing back together her insides. Adelaide realized she was on the ground, as the fires were pushed into her forearm, although she did not recall falling. When at last the burning had been contained to just the ring itself, Adelaide sat up, somehow feeling empty. _It tried to consume me, to control me, yet it failed_ she realized with horror. Some interal mechanism of her own had protected her, and looking up, she saw that the nervous excitement that had light up Mairon's face was gone, and instead his face was blank, anger flashing in his eyes. A pool of water seemed to be forming in her chest, and as she stared, Mairon seemed to slip farther and farther away. _He tried to control me_ she repeated to herself, and something within her snapped.

"Why?" She whispered, her body tremoring from the attack it had undergone. "Surely you knew it would fail?"

"And why should it have? We are from the same song, and what controls me can control you too. My love for you… it has consumed me," Mairon hissed frantically, falling to his knees before her and placing his hands on either side of her head. The anger over his failure had been replaced by a wild gleam in his eyes, and Adelaide was afraid. "I need you with me… by my side when we-" he stuttered, but Adelaide interrupted him.

"We?" She demanded, ice seeping into her voice, and it was Mairon's turn to fear.

"Myself, and Melkor. He has a plan, Adelaide. One to _save_ the races of Middle Earth from darkness."

"Melkor is the singer of the great discord, Mairon," Adelaide warned, her fear draining as she regained her strength. "He _is_ the darkness."

Mairon's body started shaking, and he pressed his forehead against Adelaide's, his breathing unsteady and coming in short gasps.

"Please come with me… please," he whispered, his words falling like a moan from his lips, and without knowing where she drew the courage from, Adelaide stood and pushed him away.

"We were never of the same song, Mairon. I thought you understood, you of all beings. You _should_ have understood. I cannot follow you down this path."

And then she had run into the darkness, for the sun had long set, fleeing Mairon upon the hilltop and listening as he let out a wail that drove a knife through her heart and sent tears streaming down her face. _Please_ his voice seemed to echo in her mind. _Please…_

When the memory faded, Adelaide once again found herself in front of Elrond, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked around the circle there gathered. _He should have understood, and yet he didn't_. _Please_ she heard him moan, and then her mind was made.

"My heart will not betray me. I will go with the Fellowship."


	6. Chapter 6: The Breaking

**Short but ~powerful~ chapter. Please review haha! I'm so annoying I know, but I have no idea what anyone is thinking of this story or if I should even continue writing. I hope you like all the development you will see in this chapter, it made me sad to write it. As always, thanks for being here and happy reading:)**

Adelaide swept from the room once she had made her decision, unable to control her emotions anymore. She felt exhausted, and yet the anger and sadness that tore at her body she knew would prevent her from finding rest. How could they have thought she would endanger the mission? _Why did Legolas not tell me he was chosen?_ Adelaide felt another upwelling of grief and she let out a sob, pressing her hand to her mouth to stifle the sound as she ran down the corridors.

The image of Mairon still flashed before her eyes and she shuddered. The vision had been so lifelike, as real as it had been many ages ago when his ring attempted to rip her about in submission. _Will you hinder the mission in order to protect the one who is undeserving of your love_ she heard Elrond's voice ask again and again in her head. _Undeserving of your love_. Did she still love Mairon? _He is no longer there to love_ Adelaide thought, taking another corner at breakneck speed and almost losing her footing on the smooth, stone floor.

Without thinking, her feet had been carrying her towards hers and Legolas's bed chambers, but upon realizing where she was going, Adelaide abruptly turned around and sped the other way. She could not go there, not face Legolas yet. He had lied to her, and when he was called, he had not even looked back.

An image flashed before her eyes of Legolas standing before the Black Gates of the Morannan, and Adelaide felt bile surface in her throat. She would have to convince him not to go, she would not allow it. How could Legolas be better suited for this cause over Glorfindel or Elladan or Elrohir? Elrond's decision made no sense.

She would have to calm herself, and meandering into one of the gardens in the center of _Imladris_ , she took a seat on the cold, stone pathway. She opened her ears and listened as the sounds of rustling leaves and distant song played around her. Roses and lilies were in full bloom, and their fragrant scents wafted under her nose, helping to calm her racing heart. Thoughts of Legolas's cold and emaciated body hinted in the darker corner of her brain, but she forced these thoughts away. _I will talk with him_.

But behind her fears for Legolas, she could feel memories – memories she had long pushed aside, threatening to break forth. _Please_ she heard Mairon's voice plead inside her head. _Please… please… PLEASE_ he screamed at her, and then suddenly Adelaide was screaming herself."

"Please," she wailed, feeling fresh tears spring from her eyes. "Please…"

And then a strong pair of arms was around her and lifted her, pulling her limp body close.

"Please…" Adelaide moaned, recognizing the familiar shape of Legolas under her fingertips.

"Be still, Adelaide, I have you," Legolas whispered, and he placed a hand behind her head, cradling it. Adelaide sighed, wanted nothing more than to melt into his grasp, but she remembered what she must do, and pulled away sharply.

He stood before her, his hands spread wide before him as if in defense, and his face was drawn and cautious. _I must look horrible_ Adelaide realized, and it made her want to laugh.

"You cannot," Adelaide breathed. "You cannot go; it will be the death of you."

"I must, _nin mel_ ," he replied. Adelaide shook her head, her curls flailing about her.

"You cannot, must not."

"I have already said I would go, would you have me shame myself? My father? The Woodland Realm?" Legolas asked, stepping closer. "You know that I must continue."

"You bring no shame to your people if you do not go. To be a member of this Fellowship is not why Thranduil sent you to _Imladris_. You were to gather information and nothing more," Adelaide said, feeling a touch of desperation beginning to color her voice.

"My father would be proud, if he were here. Too long has it been since the Woodland Realm worked hand in hand with the other peoples of Middle Earth," Legolas replied, standing straighter and staring down at Adelaide, pride filling his voice so that it echoed across the gardens.

"Why not let one of the elf lords, Glorfindel or Elladan, take your place? They have lived long lives, each of them." _You are still young_ she wanted to scream. Adelaide felt the urge to rip out her hair; she could not loose him.

"I am not so young as you see me," he replied, and there was a hint at an affronted tone. _My dear, Legolas_ Adelaide thought, her heart shuddering. _Your innocence betrays you_.

"And it is not I, but you, who should not be going," Legolas said suddenly, turning the tide of the conversation.

"What? Who better to go than myself?" Adelaide hissed, feeling some of the anger she had lost return.

"You have been running from this fate since the day Mairon left you. You knew Bilbo had the Ring, and yet you have done nothing until now to attempt to destroy him," Legolas shouted, his eyes glowing with pity.

"What would have had me do? Take the Ring by force, destroying Bilbo? And then what, march to Mordor alone against all the forces of the black army and cast the Ring into the fire, thus destroying Mairon? It would have been a fool's hope, Legolas!" She shouted in reply, feeling her cheeks burn. "I have not been running! There has never been an opportunity until now."

"You _have_ been running," Legolas retorted. His body was shaking, and he began to pace. "I remember seeing you when you arrived in the Woodland Realm after the Battle of Five Armies. Gaunt, starved, eyes clouded. But you survived, and as life came back to you, I knew that I loved you more than all of the elves in Middle Earth could love the woods or the creatures of this world. I swore to myself your happiness would be my happiness, that I would give you everything, and to that pledge I have held myself." He was crying now, his voice ragged as he moved back and forth. Adelaide felt like her feet had been glued to the ground. _Nin mel_ she wanted to say, and to rush to him, but she did not speak, nor did she move. Legolas seemed to be a dam breaking before her; one wrong move would cause him to crumble under his own weight.

"But I was not enough. I could feel you leave our bed at night to wander the halls. You scanned the skies at night, waiting for something. The songs you sang were dreary marches, and you sparred not for enjoyment, but to release the nervous energies you held within you during the day," he cried, balling his hands into fists. "You did not eat. You did not sleep. At night when I held you, I felt as if I held a ghost. 'Her existence is lonely,' my father warned me, 'and if by chance she chooses to stay somewhere, or with someone, she leaves in eventuality,' he said. But I knew then, even as I know now, that if you left I would be destroyed."

"Legolas," Adelaide whispered, her voice falling flat against his grief. But the princeling did not hear her, and continued to pace.

"And then you received your summons from Elrond, and I thought the time in which you were to abandon me had come, and so I begged my father to let me journey with you. 'Let me say goodbye on my own terms,' I begged him. He agreed reluctantly, and I told you he was sending me to ask wise Master Elrond for information and advice in these trying times. You were already so distant then, looking ahead to some future I could not see, you could never have noticed how distraught I was during our journey." Here Legolas, paused to take several deep, rasping breaths. His blue eyes swam with tears, and his braids had fallen loose.

"When we arrived in _Imladris_ , you seemed more yourself and I thought that perhaps you were returning to me. But then you recounted your tale, and I knew finally what you had been searching for: an end to your guilt, and to escape the love that you could not seem to step away from. You asked me if I was angry? How could I be? I knew now that you could never love me as greatly as you did Mairon, and I felt pity for your own foolish cause, and grief for myself, for who could I ever love after you?"

Adelaide shuddered. She wanted him to stop talking, but his sadness seemed to be uncontrollable. His words sent arrows through her skin, and tears poured from her eyes.

"There was only one recourse then. It would be my last great act, and one morning when you were wandering the valley, I came to Elrond. 'Let me be apart of the Fellowship. Let me destroy Adelaide's greatest misery,' I begged him, because I had pledged myself to your happiness, and whatever sorrow held you down also weighed upon me. I would go, and do what I could to destroy this evil and bring you closing happiness, and then I would pass into the West, for without Mairon's presence on this Middle Earth, you will return to your home world."

Here he finally stopped, and Adelaide watched as his chest rose and fell rapidly with the conclusion of his confession. In all her years of knowing him, she had never seen him so unkempt, _so sorrowful_.

"You must not bear my burdens as if they were your own," Adelaide whispered, reaching her arm out as if to touch his cheek, but Legolas pulled away quickly.

"And what else can I do? For it is clear to me that you do not love me. Your heart has only ever had room for Sauron, and I have been a passing pleasure perhaps." He could not keep the stinging jealously out of his voice.

"Mairon and I –" she began, but Legolas cut her off.

"See? You still call him Mairon! That being is long dead, only Sauron remains. Yet against all hope, you must believe that the creature you knew is still in there?" Legolas said, his voice filling with cruel laughter. Adelaide felt her anger begin to bubble over.

"You speak of things you do not comprehend, Legolas," Adelaide warned, feeling the movement return to her legs and heat to her limbs.

"I understand only that I have been a poor substitute for your first love, but he is _dead_ , Adelaide, and you must see that," Legolas pleaded with her.

"Mairon cannot be completely gone, for otherwise he would have struck me down at the Battle of the Last Alliance. But he did _not_ , which gives me hope to think that the being I loved is still trapped somewhere within, much as Smeagol is trapped in the confines of the creature Gollum," Adelaide shouted. _He knows nothing of what I have suffered, what I have lost_. "And even if he is gone, can you imagine the agony of what I have suffered? To watch the person you love waste away into darkness? Loosing the thing you held dearest to madness? It is a cruel fate, and one that has dogged my footsteps for over three ages, and one you cannot begin to comprehend."

"I do comprehend," Legolas said stiffly. "I am watching it happen right now, before my eyes… _to you_."

Adelaide stumbled back, feeling a fury she had not felt for many centuries build within her. Around them, the wind began to hum and leaves and petals were torn from branches. The air warmed as above them thunder crackled. Voices could be heard shouting in dismay, and elves gathered around the garden, staring down upon the pair in fear as Adelaide felt a raw surge of power soar through her. Before her, Legolas stepped back, his face filling with fear.

"How dare you," she hissed. She was going on a journey to destroy darkness, not join it. Legolas was knocked to the ground as the wind around them grew in strength, sending him skittering back away from where Adelaide stood. Slowly, she took measured steps towards him, feeling the tension in her shoulders and her vision blurring red with anger. When at last she stood above Legolas, she noticed a trickle of blood running from his temple where his head had hit the stone.

"Are you going to kill me," he asked, and in his eyes Adelaide saw an emotion she had never seen before: disgust.

And as suddenly as her anger and power had awoken, it was gone and she crumpled to the ground. They lay in silence next to each other, both gasping for breath.

"I will go on this journey, Adelaide, but you should reconsider. I will free you from your burden, but if you try to hinder me, I will do everything within myself to stop you," Legolas grunted, and with that he got to his feet and walked away.


	7. Chapter 7: The Beginning

**Been a few days but my schedule has picked up once more and now whenever I am writing, I'm just procrastinating. Moving forward from Imladris so I hope you are as ready for me for them to leave. As always, please review with anything you love or any confusion/concerns! Thanks for being here and happy reading:)**

Adelaide felt a rough pair of hands on her arms and pull her to her feet, a gruff voice muttering under his breath.

"Aragorn?" Adelaide whispered, peering through her eyelashes in the darkness as the ranger's solemn face came into view.

"Let's get you back to your room," he murmured, placing one arm around her waist and the other under her knees and sweeping her off her feet. Adelaide felt another bout of grief wash over her and tears leaked from her eyes.

"I can't," she wobbled, "Legolas is there."

"Then to my chambers. You need rest. We will set out tomorrow night – we travel by nightfall," Aragorn said, making his way up the steps from the garden and down several winding breezeways to a small, secluded corner of the home. Aragorn pushed open the door, revealing a high ceilinged stone room, with white marble floors and two, tall, living trees on either side of the dark wooden bed. Cast about the room were several scrolls and cloaks, and different weapons of a fine and old make hung from the wall. It showed obvious signs of personal adornment, from the vase of dried flowers on the bedside table to the open trunk of traveling clothes. Adelaide felt immediately upon arrival inside that it was a wonderful place to stay.

Without hesitation Aragorn moved over and set Adelaide down on the edge of the bed.

"You can sleep in here tonight, I will find other accommodations," he said with a curt nod. There was a tension in his neck, and despite the pain in Adelaide's chest, she smiled at him.

"Thank you. You're being so kind, I do not deserve it," she said, and then she burst into a fresh wave of tears. Beside her, the mattress sank as Aragorn sat; he smelled of freshly tilled earth after rain.

"Do not weep," he commanded, brushing a coarse thumb over her cheek. "Nothing has been decided yet, and nothing will be for some time to come. You have not lost Legolas yet, and our journey begins tomorrow which will be a happy distraction."

Adelaide opened and then closed her mouth, and she saw a twinkle in Aragorn's still brown eyes. She suddenly felt very tired, and with a nod she got to her feet. She could do nothing tonight – no word to Legolas would calm him, and she would need her strength for the next night.

"Thank you, Lord Aragorn. Your compassion and kindness do you great service. I appreciate your friendship," she said with a small twitch of her lips.

To Aragorn, he felt like he was staring at a corpse. Her lips were chapped from crying, cheeks pale, and her eyes seemed to stare ahead as if they could not see anything around them. Despite the shaking in her body and the haunted look about her, she was still more beautiful than any woman he had ever seen, and he blushed at the thought, looking down. Hoping that Adelaide would think his embarrassment was only at the expense of her comment, he hastily replied.

"Thank you, I will leave you to sleep." And with a quick nod of his head he left the room and closed the door gently behind him.

When Adelaide awoke in the morning, she lay in bed for a moment with her eyes closed, listening as the birds sang in the trees outside and feeling the warmth of the morning's early rays shine upon her face. As her mind awoke, she began to recall the events from the night previous, an ache forming slowly in her chest. _Legolas, nin mel…_ she wanted to call. How could she have not noticed his great fear at her leaving? _And yet I was planning to leave, too long had I dwelt in the Woodland Realm with such darkness blooming_. Guilt pooled in her stomach, and she forced herself to open her eyes, unable to bear the darkness in the morning.

Aragorn's room gleamed golden in the light, and light reflected off the swords on the wall, casting rainbows onto the walls and marble floors. The architecture of the room was different from the rest of the house, less flowing with strong edges and heavy stone and dark woods. Getting to her feet, Adelaide saw that she had slept in her dress from the previous day. A wash basin stood beside the window with a fresh bowl of water and several oils and flower petals floating at the surface.

Without a second thought Adelaide dunked her entire head under the water, running her fingers through her hair and scrubbing her scalp. The water was freezing, mostly likely from the fountain in the center of the home. With a gasp for air she resurfaced, flipping her hair above her head and shrieking as her wet hair hit her back, sending a cold stream of water across her skin. From behind her, there was a small chuckle.

Whipping around in surprise, Adelaide saw Aragorn standing just inside the door, towels in his hands and a broad smile across his face.

"I thought you would want refreshment, although I did not think you were planning to bathe in it," he said, nodding his head towards the wash bowl. Adelaide nodded her head but said nothing, shivers wracking her body.

"Here," Aragorn offered, walking forward and handing Adelaide the towel. She took it and deftly dried her hair with it, and then wrapped it around her shoulders, drying her back too.

"Thank you, you are very thoughtful," she said with a smile, wiping at a trickle that ran down her neck with a corner of the rag.

"It was nothing, you had a difficult night."

Adelaide grimaced and Aragorn frowned. _Fool_ he wanted to say to himself, seeing the somber look upon her face.

"You will have to forgive the mess in my room. I do not often spend time here any longer now that I have once again begun living with the Dunedain, and my room lays often unused," he said, changing the subject.

"I don't mind," Adelaide laughed. "It's a nice room, different from the rest of the house."

"Lord Elrond had it designed in the style of Gondor when I came to live here as a child," Aragorn explained, glancing around the room. Silence fell between them, but it was comfortable, like a calm eddy swirling off the edge of a merry, babbling brook.

"I best be going to pack if we leave this evening. I will see you later," Adelaide said, and with a smile she swept from the room.

She walked briskly to her and Legolas's chambers, feeling the ache in her chest grow more pronounced with each step. Would he be in there? And what would she say to him if he was? But as she pushed open the door, she saw that the room was empty and she breathed a sigh of relief. Quickly she changed into traveling clothes: a par of black leather breeches and a well worn blue tunic with long sleeves and a gather around her wrists. The shirt was made of a fine elven material that was light in the heat and warm in the cold and would hold up to the wear and tear of the journey. She pulled on leather boots and strapped her sword to her hip. In her pack she rolled and stowed a cloak for evenings as well as a blanket for sleep, a knife, a bowl, and a fire starting kit, but left the rest of the pack open to carry group supplies. She stood, slinging the pack over her shoulder, as the door behind her was pushed open.

Legolas strode into the room, examining a scroll in his hands when he looked up and saw Adelaide. He froze, his blue eyes like ice as he examined her clothing and pack.

"So you intend to go," he murmured, and Adelaide detected a hint of great sadness in his voice.

"I do," Adelaide replied, her voice croaking as her throat seemed to tighten. The ache in her chest had turned into a sharp pain as she looked upon his unmoving face. _How did it come to this?_ It felt as if their relationship was being washed down the valley upon the river, and she did not know how to mend it. Legolas nodded, and then rolling up his scroll, tucked it under his arm and turned, making to leave the room.

"Legolas," Adelaide gasped, stumbling forward and reaching out to grab his shoulder. Under her hand, she could feel his muscles stiffen. "Please, can we talk?"

He turned and her hand fell from his shoulder. Adelaide shuddered under his unfaltering gaze and pressed her hand to her stomach as if she had been burned.

"We did talk, last night as I recall." He said, his voice neutral with repressed emotion. Adelaide longed to know what he was thinking, but his face gave nothing away. "I thought I made our relationship perfectly clear."

"But…but surely you know that I love you?" Adelaide whispered, her voice quailing.

"I do not feel as if I have known you at all, Adelaide."

" _Nin mel,_ " Adelaide said, their usual endearment falling from her lips in adoration, and before her Legolas snapped.

"NO!" He roared, his voice cracking and his fists clenching at his side. "Never call me that… not until Sauron is defeated and you can prove that you do not intend to save him. Until then, that cannot be true."

He disappeared from the door frame while Adelaide stood still, her hand remained pressed to her stomach. It was not until she realized that he was not coming back that Adelaide moved, leaving the room without a backward glance.

Several hours later the company gathered at the north entrance to _Imladris_. Many elves had gathered to see them off, as had Bilbo, who stood beside Frodo speaking rapidly under his breath. To Adelaide, Frodo seemed forlorn, and the starlight in his eyes was dim.

Boromir was adjusting his pack so that his shield could be strapped to the back. The great warrior had taken the most extra weight upon his back, but he did not seem at all angry about the added weight. Beside him, Aragorn was surveying the path out of the valley, and beside the ranger the other three hobbits shifted their weight nervously. Adelaide spotted Sam's pony, thinking regretfully of Bayne who would wait for her in the stables of _Imladris_ , for they would not be riding through the mountains.

A hand come to rest on Adelaide's shoulder, and looking up she saw the wizened face of Gandalf peering down at her. He neither smiled nor seemed disapproved, just stared at her for several moments before giving her shoulder a slight squeeze and moving on to greet Aragorn. Adelaide smiled at his receding back – they would need his experience on this trip.

The crowd to Adelaide's right parted slightly and the slim figure of Legolas stepped forward. He was clad in his moss green traveling clothes, and his quiver, bow, and knives were each strapped to his back. He did not cast his eyes upon Adelaide, and instead approached Boromir, clasping him on the shoulder and giving him a broad smile that made Adelaide's knees shake and the ache in her chest burn brightly for a moment.

"To all gathered here, we have assembled to see off the company," Lord Elrond began. His voice was soft, but it seemed to carry in the late evening air, rolling out across the valley. "You have each undertaken a great task, and from hence none can see where your journey will take you. I wish you great fortune, and you are in my thoughts, however far you wander."

There was quiet murmuring from the crowd, but no one in the Fellowship said anything for a moment, until Gandalf stepped forward.

"Nothing so sad and yet so exciting as a parting. Much to leave behind, and much to see ahead. I see no sense in delaying, but I am the one who knows the way, so follow me!" Gandalf called with a smile, turning away from the assembly of elves. "Farewell sweet, _Imladris_. Until my return."

He began to sing as Frodo, the other hobbits, and Gimli fell in step behind Gandalf. Legolas came next, followed by Boromir and finally Aragorn. Adelaide paused a moment to allow them to be a step ahead, for this was their journey and she was only accompanying them, and then began forward.

She had hardly taken one step, however, when a hand enclosed around her arm, gripping tightly. Lord Elrond stood behind her, frowning slightly.

"Normally, on journeys of great peril I tell people to take heart, and not to forget the strength that lies there, but for you I advise the opposite. Forget your heart, or perhaps, do not forget it, but instead remember that your heart's desire is not always your mind's. When they are both in line, then perhaps the heart can be followed," he warned.

"I gave my word, Lord Elrond," Adelaide reminded him, failing to keep some of the anger from leaking into her voice. _First Legolas, now Elrond_.

"You would do well to remember it. The truth, which I am sure you understand, is if you decide to help Sauron, no one alive could stop you. Your path is clouded from me, and I am hesitant to let you go, but nor do I forget watching you battle the Dark Lord on the fields and the fury that was in your eyes."

"I was betrayed, my heart does not forget that, even perhaps if you and Legolas and the rest of _Imladris_ believe that I have," Adelaide said, and this time she did not attempt to hide her anger.

"You act as if you are the only one who has undergone grief," Elrond said in an uncharacteristic display of displeasure. "I too have known sadness, as has each person journeying with you. Only love can conquer hurt. Only bravery can conquer fear. They will need your bravery before this task is done, and your love too I suspect."

"I hope to serve them in any way that I can," Adelaide replied stiffly. She said nothing else to him and turned to go. Elrond let go of her arm, his face once again controlled after his short burst of anger.

"He loves you, Adelaide. He will remember it in the end, and then you will be tested," Elrond called after her, but she did not turn back and she did not answer.

She caught up with them quickly, the moon provided enough light and she could hear the gentle tramping of Gimli's boots through the bracken. They moved in a single file line without a spoken word, listening intently for the sound of pursuit, for now that they have moved out of the valley, they recalled the black riders who had chased the hobbits all the way from the Shire and the growing darkness of the world around _Imladris_.

Adelaide's mind mulled over Elrond's words as she placed one foot in front of the other. _He will remember it in the end, and then you will be tested_. Again, the image of Mairon atop the hill flashed in her mind, but it was quickly driven away with a flash of silver before her caused Adelaide to stop and crouch. Freezing, she peered into the dimly lit wood around her before realizing with a wave of embarrassment that the silver gleam before her was nothing but Legolas's hair. She got to her feet, smiling to herself and her own foolishness. If she had Legolas had been on speaking terms, he would have found her jumpy nerves a funny story.

They hiked on throughout the night, climbing until they were out of the valley and then continuing on through the wood. No one spoke or sang, and the only sounds that could be heard were the rustling of Gandalf's cloak and the steps of of Gimli and the men, for the hobbits and Legolas could walk without making a sound. They reached the edge of the wood as the sun was beginning to rise and here, Gandalf called for a stop.

"We will rest here until nightfall," he said with a smile down at the hobbits who had already fallen to the ground. "I will take the first watch, and Aragorn shall follow me at noon. I think a few more nights of travel by night and we will have cleared the first danger." His optimism sent a series of smiles throughout the gathered group. "Sleep now, we will wake you."


	8. Chapter 8: The History

**Wow thank you so much for my two reviews:) hehe it means a lot to me I'm glad y'all like it so far! I'm excited about this chapter, learn about Adelaide's mysterious past and where she's** **_really_** **from, and see her start to make friends in Legolas's absence. Anyways, thanks for being here, please continue to review if you feel like it, I own nothing but Adelaide and her history and maybe a few other OC's here and there, and happy reading:)**

They awoke when the sun's final rays were setting over the hills in a last glorious display of deep reds, oranges, and yellows. It seemed that the sky was giving one last gasp of encouragement to the already weary travelers before they set out on their next hike, and the thought seemed to warm Adelaide a little as she watched the light fade to blues and black.

Adelaide stretched, pushing her arms into the air above her head, and let out a loud yawn, feeling the muscles in her back loosen. She had slept, but roughly, and the ground had been a hard bed after the many comforts of Rivendell. Beside her, Frodo also stretched, his hands barely reaching to Adelaide's shoulders when in the air. His hair stood on end and his eyes were wide but full of sleep, and Adelaide once again thought about how young he was to be carrying such a heavy burden.

"How did you sleep, Frodo," she asked, crouching to roll up her blanket and tucking it into her pack under all of her food and gear. The hobbit, who had been paying her no mind, started when he heard her voice, and then smiled grimly at her.

"Terribly, if what I did can even be called sleeping. I won't be able to put one foot in front of the other in a few days if I continue to get rest like that."

"It gets easier – or maybe its that you get more exhausted and can fall asleep anywhere? I can't remember which," Adelaide said with a small laugh, and Frodo's grim smile turned into a genuine grin.

"I suppose you have lots of experience of sleeping in the wilderness?" He asked, shouldering his pack.

"Enough to last the lifetimes of several men. But I enjoy the wild, it's always changing, no matter how often I walk these trails," she replied, shouldering her own pack after the hobbit. "But you've never left the Shire, have you?"

"Never slept outdoors for more than one night, let alone left the Shire. This whole…adventuring thing is much less glamorous than I hoped it would be, although any adventure to Mordor was bound to be miserable," Frodo said sheepishly.

"Do not speak of our mission aloud, Frodo Baggins," said a stern voice, and Adelaide and Frodo turned to see Aragorn eying them both keenly, his solemn face made more grave by a deep frown. Adelaide scanned his attire, noticing the well worn boots and the many repairs that had been made in his cloak. "Not all spies have faces, the birds and even the trees can carry word to our enemies. You have been warned."

The ranger then turned back to the side and began to lead the group away from their campsite, falling in step beside Gandalf.

"Is he always so serious?" Frodo asked as they both began to follow the group. "I mean to say, I would follow him anywhere, but he hardly ever smiles."

"He bears a great burden. Destined to be a king in a land where no one knows his name; I would say it weighs heavily upon him, not to mention the leadership of our perilous quest," Adelaide explained, gazing upon Aragorn's figure from behind as they walked. He was tall, and his movement were almost as graceful as an elf's, but with more power to hint at his human heritage. "But he is not always grave and often in _Imladris_ it was said he would recite poetry or sing at gatherings."

"I should hope that he would recite poetry to us, and in the elven tongue. I wish I knew more of it than I do, I think that it would be useful," Frodo admitted. Adelaide fell into step behind him as they began marching up a steep hill, their feet slipping in the grass and the evening dew that had collected.

"I can teach you, if you so desire," Adelaide offered between pants for air. _When was the last time I journeyed by foot and not horseback, this trip may be the death of me_ she thought venomously as her foot threatened again to slide on the grass.

"I would be delighted!" Frodo exclaimed, looking back at her over his shoulder. In the darkness, Adelaide could see the outline of the smile on his face and she smiled herself.

"When we start to march by day I can teach you words while we walk," Adelaide offered, and Frodo agreed heartily.

They marched for a few moments in silence, listening to the sounds of grass trampling underfoot and the crickets that hummed in the night air. Above them, the stars twinkled brightly and the moon glistened. Yet despite the pleasant setting, the chill hinted at the approaching winter, and the air was heavy in their throats as if each breath was threatening to strangle them. The entire fellowship could not shake the feeling of prying eyes, even in the darkness that surrounded them. Frodo most of all felt the weight of the the air around them, and that is perhaps what prompted him to ask his next question.

"Have you ever worn the burden I carry?" He asked quietly, his voice barely reaching above a whisper. Adelaide stared at his back for a moment, surprised by his question.

"No, Frodo, I have not. When I held it at the council, it was the first time I had ever touched it and only the second time I had seen it."

"When was the first time you saw it?" Frodo asked. Adelaide wondered where the hobbits curiosity had suddenly come from, but as the ring bearer she thought he deserved to know. _He certainly understands the gravity better than most._

"When I fought Mairon at the Battle of the Last Alliance. I saw it upon his hand, glowing red against his black armor. I was so shocked he almost gained the upper hand against me before I remembered where we were," Adelaide admitted. Now that she told her tale, it was relieving to speak of the horrors of what she had undergone. In her mind, she could see the red band wrapped around his forefinger, glowing like embers in the center of a fire.

"But I thought you had known of its existence when you fought him?" Frodo said.

"Yes, I did, for I knew when he had used his ring to try and control mine. But to see it in person, it was…surreal. That something so _beautiful_ could contain such malice," Adelaide whispered. Her chest constricted and she could say no more, her voice suddenly heavy with sadness. How horrible it had been that day, her body aching with fatigue, sweat coating her skin, armor dented and blood pouring from wounds on her arm and calf. Her mind had been floating almost separate from her body, the air still and rank with the stench of dying men. Feet sinking into the dirt that was wet with blood, Adelaide had looked around her during a moment of respite while the elves flanking her left side split the orc lines.

"Lady Adelaide!" A voice had shouted in fear, and whipping her head about, she saw through the gloom a black figure approaching, standing almost two heads taller than everyone about her. A stone seemed to sink into her gut, the weight pulling her down to her knees. _No, not him_ she wanted to moan, but she bit her lip instead until it bled. He had to know that she was on the fields, why else would he have left his keep.

"On your knees," a gruff voice said, and then Elrond was beside her pulling her to her knees. "We are not defeated yet!"

Adelaide said nothing in return. With a surge of willpower she did not know she possessed, she bent to wipe her blade, _the blade he wrought me_ , on the tunic of a dead elf and again raised her eyes to the black figure. This was her doom, to fight the man she loved. To try and kill him – _if I can_. Her legs moved of their own accord as she drifted through the flailing bodies around her, the sounds of the battle falling into the background as if they were not there. Before her, Mairon turned to face her, lifting his mace.

That as when she saw _it_. As he adjusted his grip on his mace, a red glow caught her eyes. Like a great red snake strangling his hands, the Ring seemed to draw her gaze. All sounds around her ceased to exist, and in fact Adelaide forgot herself, letting her sword hand drop to her side. She watched without comprehension as Mairon lifted his mace hand, and only at the last minute did she understand, throwing her body to the side and rolling over a body, springing to her feet and lifting her sword to see that Mairon had sunk his mace into the ground where she had been standing a moment before.

"Do you think it would effect you? To wear it, I mean," Frodo asked, bringing Adelaide back from her memories. With shiver, Adelaide ran her thumb across her own ring, spinning it on her finger and feeling the uncomfortable burn on her skin that always pained her with Frodo and the Ring so close.

 _Would it effect me?_ She had often wondered this, had Mairon learned from his first mistake? But it had not been intended for her hand, and it had failed to control her, even with his new understanding of her being.

"No," she whispered. "No, I think not. Mairon does not understand me still."

"That gives me comfort," Frodo said. "That if it should take me, there is one who could take over for me that will not shrivel up into nothingness from this evil burden."

"I would not take It unless every member of the Fellowship had failed first," Adelaide replied solemnly, and Frodo glanced over his back for a moment, his starlight eyes meeting her own green and quietly appraising her.

"All the same, I am glad you are accompanying us."

From behind there was a great sigh, and Adelaide turned to see Gimli marching directly behind her, and to her surprise, Legolas behind him. The elf prince was staring determinedly at the land off to their right, his blue eyes wide and surveying the land with his keen eyesight. Adelaide felt the familiar ache in her chest, her eyes tracing his firm jaw and the silver strands of hair that framed his face.

"Well I for one," Gimli grunted, "would like to know more about where it is you _do_ come from." Adelaide smiled for a moment, realizing that Gimli and Legolas must have been listening to hers and Adelaide's conversation.

"As would I," Frodo agreed.

"Well what is it you would like to know, Master Dwarf?" Adelaide said with a laugh. She felt some misgiving about talking about her home world – she did not typically share her secrets when she traveled to other worlds. _It can do no harm, they cannot return with me_.

"You say you are a being of great power, or at least that is how you put it. What are you like in your home world? What is it called? And how did you come to be here, in ours?" Gimli demanded, his curiosity getting the better of him.

"Would you like the whole history of my world? Or would you like the answer to just those questions? You ask for a lengthy tale," Adelaide said, tossing her head back with laughter.

"I think we would all like to know more about where you come from," Gandalf said with a chuckle. Glancing around her, Adelaide realized that the entire Fellowship was listening to her now.

"Oh all right, you nosy bunch of bastards," she grumbled, causing a few of them to chuckle. "I will answer your easiest question first. I hail from a land called Cyprinia, where I rule as Queen from my castle Tor Katara."

Behind her Gimli let out a low whistle.

"Your majesty-" he began, but Adelaide turned around and punched him on the shoulder, knocking him off balance in his surprise, almost sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Please do not. That is not who I am here, nor do I insist in those formalities even in my own domain."

"If you are a Queen, who rules when you are gone? It has been thousands of years since you arrived in Middle Earth? Surely your people must think you have abandoned them?" Pippen asked, his mouth hanging wide enough to catch an entire host of flies.

"While I am away, time passes differently in Cyprinia. Perhaps only a year or two has gone by while I have been here, in Arda. My Riders rule for me," she explained, thinking of her companions at arms who would be managing Tor Katara and events of state in her stead.

"But how did you end up here? And are your people not mad that you have left them?" Gimli asked, awestruck.

"You ask heavy questions, Gimli. I will only say one more thing, for it brings me grief to speak of my home which I miss so dearly. It was long ago, in a place before time, that my mother, the noble goddess Asta was born. From her loneliness, a young god sprung, and his name was Talman. For some unknown time, they were content, but Talman began to wish for something of his own, for Asta had him, but he had nothing that he had created. From a star that he crushed between his hands, he crafted Cyprinia, and with a great breath of life, trees and grasses and all numbers of animals and plants sprang from the soil. But it was not enough, for he wanted another being to admire his world with him, and from a great oak tree he carved the figure of a man, and with another breath of life the carving became life and Vander, meaning the first one, was awoken. Talman was content for he had something, yet Asta noticed that Vander was lonely, for aren't we all trying to fill some void in our lives?"

Here she paused and her eyes strayed to Legolas, but the elf was staring at Gimli who walked before him.

"Asta, therefore, one night drew water from a wooded river and created the form of a woman and breathed life into it, and thus I was born."

"Durin's Bane…" Gimli murmured, his voice full of awe. He ran hand down his beard, clearly in shock. "The daughter of a goddess, and a queen no less. You have been very quiet for very long, Lady Adelaide."

"Keep going!" Pippen said excitedly, his eyes wide with interest.

"Many things took place, but the tale is long and sad and I will not burden you with my sorrows. In short Talman despised me and conspired to ruin me. He cursed me to eternal life, and to watch the suffering of those around me with great power that could never erase the evil that lurked in the world, only enough to hold it at bay. It is he who takes me to other worlds, to let me see the evils there, and to prevent me from being of any aid in Cyprinia."

Adelaide finished her abbreviated tale and waited, holding her breath. _Why did I tell them_ she groaned at herself. She had just released such a Pandora's box of questions, they were certain to keep her awake for the next forty years asking her things of Cyprinia. A hollowness swelled within her. How long had she pushed back thoughts of her home world? How long had she denied her longing to return home? _When my work here is finished_ she thought adamantly to herself. _To ride through the oak rings of Tor Katara once more. To once more gaze upon the Ahvion mountains_. A longing greater than any she had ever felt sprang forth within her, sending tears to her eyes. How could any in the Fellowship understand what she had suffered here, and what she had lost when she had lost Mairon, the one who had filled her misery and being taken from her home. Around her everyone was silent, digesting what little information she had given them. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Legolas staring at her, and she felt a strange wrinkle in her stomach, her longing subsiding gently.

"Thank you for telling us," a voice said suddenly, and looking up, she saw that it had been Aragorn. She smiled at him, feeling tears stream down her face.

"My dear, you are full of surprises," Gandalf added with a chuckle. "I suspect there is much more to tell, but that is enough for now."

Her eyes stung with tears, and her breathing was shaky as she glanced around her. None met her eyes except Frodo, who stared at her with a blank expression. The starlight in his eyes seemed to be shinning brightly, and Adelaide wondered what he was thinking.

"Do you miss Cyrprinia? Your home?" He asked, cocking his head to the side. Adelaide pressed a hand to her mouth to stop the sob that threatened to spill out.

"More than I could ever tell," she whispered, a fresh wave of tears spilling from her eyes.

"Then we will defeat this evil," Frodo promised solemnly. "And then you may return there without guilt."

Adelaide halted in her tracks and stared down at the young hobbit, his understanding sending bolts of shock like lightning through her body. _How could he know…?_ Frodo only turned up one corner of his mouth up before turning away and continuing the long march.

From behind her there was a rustling and Legolas sped past her, his footsteps hurried and loud in his haste. He did not look at her, and Adelaide watched his back recede into the night before she eventually followed.


	9. Chapter 9:The Spy

**Wow I am so sorry it's been so long. Literally life is so hectic right now, so it was nice to take some ~me~ time to write this for you. Hope that you enjoy this, we are getting to an exciting part of the book hehehe. *Cue dramatic music* I hope that you are all excited for the next installment. As always, please review cause I'm selfish and love the boost of confidence to keep writing. Thanks for being here and happy reading:)**

They marched throughout the night for the next three moons before Gandalf allowed them to rest for an entire day and night and travel by the light of the sun. Adelaide's sore muscles quickly became accustomed to the strain of the long walks, and her shoulders no longer seemed to mind the weight upon her back. Each morning dawned in white, fuzzy haze and the crisp hint of winter that was always in the air, and they gathered their sleeping mats silently, eyes still groggy with sleep.

The land around them was a dull mix of faded greens, browns and grays, and for the most part the fellowship did little speaking, instead choosing to save their breath for the long hikes ahead of them. Each step moved them only a fraction closer to their end goal, brushing slowly past low, twisted shrubs and long needled pines that dotted the surrounding landscape. Gandalf and Aragorn led the group, and Boromir brought up the rear, but the rest of the company moved along in no particular order. Sam always kept his faithful pony Bill in tow behind him, but Adelaide feared the closer they drew to the mountains, the less time Sam would have with the beast.

After her first initial conversation in which she had opened up about her home world, Adelaide did not speak of Cyprinia again. She felt uneasy about her prior honesty, and regretted speaking of all that she had left behind. It seemed as if speaking of her true identity had unleashed a torrent of memories that she had long ago stifled in her many long years here in Arda. During her fitful and limited rest, she dreamt of the rolling hills of her homeland, of her friends and riders, and of the long sweeping halls of Tor Katara. She should see the sunlight flashing off the mother-of-pearl and white marble walls of her castle. In dreams she could hear the song that echoed from the servants' stairwell and the wind rustling through the oak ring. Each morning she awoke with fresh tears in her eyes that threatened to freeze in the frigid mountain air. _Weakness_ she wanted to scoff at herself, but at times the memories were almost overwhelming and it required all her strength to keep marching.

Adding to her grief was the fact that Legolas had still yet to speak to her since they had left Rivendell. He spent most of his time with Master Gimli, and the two had appeared to form a close bond, despite their many differences. During their marches, he moved without struggle, leaping lightly over roots and brambles that often caught the hobbits or Boromir. His vigor was unending, and a rosiness was forming in his cheeks that had long been missing. _The outside world agrees with him_ Adelaide noted with fondness, but it made her sorrow all the greater to not be able to share his happiness with him. On the few occasions that they had made eye contact, his blue gaze had been like steel, cutting through Adelaide like one of his well aimed arrows.

Without the elf's company, Adelaide had been forced to seek companionship elsewhere. This had come most readily from Frodo, and she had been true to her word, teaching him elvish words as they walked ever forward. Often he told stories of the Shire, or talked of his Uncle Bilbo with such fondness that listening helped to keep Adelaide's own sadness away for a time.

"You knew Uncle Bilbo of course," Frodo said one particularly bright afternoon. "Your journey to the Lonely Mountain must have been one for the ages. Of course, Bilbo only ever spoke of the true events to me, including the true finding of the Ring."

"Yes, it had been many long years since I had played any part in the history of Middle Earth, and so Gandalf summoned to to accompany Thorin and the rest of them. Bilbo was as much my friend on that journey as you are mine on this," Adelaide said to him.

"He gave me his sword, Sting, that they found in the Troll caves," Frodo replied, blushing slightly at her compliment. From his side he drew forward his short sword, brandishing it before him. The blade was wrought with a design of leaves and vines and the hilt was made of worn black leather.

"And have you learned how to use it?" Adelaide asked him, taking the sword from him and giving it a few hesitant swings. It moved through the air with ease for it was extremely light in her hands, but the balance was wrong for her size and she quickly gave it back.

"No, not much. I sparred a bit at the armory in _Imladris_ , but no formal training."

"I can help you there," said a strong voice from behind, and turning over their shoulders, Adelaide and Frodo saw Boromir smiling down at them. "I used to train the new recruits in Gondor, I could practice blade work with all of the hobbits before we rest each night if they would like?" The offer hung in the air for a few brief moments before all four hobbits eagerly agreed. Adelaide smiled at the group of young men before turning to smile at Boromir. The soldier's eyes, however, were fixed upon Frodo's face. There was a hunger in his eyes that made Adelaide start, but she held her tongue and looked away. To her right, Aragorn too was eyeing Boromir, his serious gaze hooded by his dirty locks of wavy brown hair.

The rest of the day they marched in silence until late in the afternoon as the sun was beginning to fade in the West. Gandalf stopped as the reached the knoll of a dusty, brown hill and turned to face them.

"We have reached the land of Hollin, where long ago elves dwelt. It is a good land, although it has been empty for some time. After we pass through, we will be forced to cross over the Misty Mountains," he reported.

It was as he mentioned the mountains that the Fellowship seemed to become aware of the great looming structures that lay across the horizon behind the wizard. Tall and imposing, even at a great distance the Misty Mountains seemed to tower above them. Jagged, black peaks capped with snow seemed to scrape the blue sky like a set of monstrous teeth.

"Well I'll be damned," Pippen said at last with a low whistle, his eyes wide in shock as he took in the daunting landscape before him. Adelaide, who had climbed each individual peak, only nodded her head. It would not be difficult to pass over the mountains unless they met resistance. The bigger question, was which path were they going to take. _The Gap of Rohan is the easiest, although within a hair's width from Isenguard and Sauruman._ No, that way would not be safe to them, and it would add an extra month onto their journey if they did not stop to rest. That left traveling north around the mountains, the Redhorn Pass, or…

The third option was so unpleasant Adelaide attempted to push the thought away, but she could not stop the memories that filled her mind now. Dark caves, looming high above her so that she felt as if she was standing in nothingness, and the stench of long rotted carcasses and something more _unsavory_. It had been centuries since Adelaide visited Moria, slipping in one night to escape a brutal winter night. She had been to Moria when it was a great Dwarf Kingdom, and even the most remote of chambers had shone with torchlight and rang with the steady chimes of pickaxes and the hum of dwarves steady at work. But that happy time had long since faded to the memory of only a few, and all that remained now was the rank smell of dwarven greed, crumbling corridors, and the threat of dark creatures around each bend. No, Moria was the least pleasant path they could take.

"It is at least a weeks worth of walking before we reach the mountains if we keep a good pace, so let us not dawdle on top of this hill," Aragorn said at last, bringing Adelaide back from the memories with a shiver.

"Quite right," Gandalf agreed. "We are far too exposed upon this hill."

And so they set off marching again, this time with renewed vigor now that they knew towards where they were walking.

"Doesn't look like elvish land, eh, does it?" Grunted Gimli as they moved around a set of boulders.

"It was so long ago that the fair folk dwelt here that now only the rocks and stones recall," Legolas said. There was sadness in his voice, yet also wonder. Adelaide smiled in spite of herself, admiring the way that the sunlight glinted on his golden hair. Her admirations, were cut short, however, when a voice spoke into her ear.

"You must have been here when Hollin was still young?" The voice asked, and turning, Adelaide saw Aragorn's serious eyes peering down into hers.

"Yes, it was lovely. The air was fresh, and you walked much lighter through theses fields than anywhere else," Adelaide replied.

"I often forget your age. When you spar or speak with members of our fellowship, you seem just as you look, a woman only approaching the age of 3 and ten," Aragorn admitted with a slight chuckle. "It must be tedious for you to listen to mine and Gandalf's lessons of lore when you lived it."

"It feels more like a far off dream, that I might have had when I was a child," Adelaide said, shaking her head at him. "When I walk through a place, my memories seem to blur with the present. Often I cannot tell if I am seeing what is in front of me, or what used to be. I, much like yourself Ranger, have made much effort to learn about the lands of Middle Earth, and so Hollin is familiar to me, for it connects many different roads. Yet you see only the dry grasses waiting for winter, but I see the flames that licked these lands during it's destruction, and yet also the holly bushes that used to dot the country and hear the elf song that used to hang in the air. The land is timeless, much like myself."

"Middle Earth will miss your memories when you at last return to your home," Aragorn said softly. Adelaide turned to look over her left shoulder. His face was still serious, but there was a melting softness in his gray eyes that took her by surprise.

"Perhaps I should write it all down," Adelaide said with a chuckle, dispelling some of the tension that had just formed. Aragorn too laughed.

"It would be a priceless novel, and one that would take you another three ages to write, I think."

"It would be a bore," Adelaide said, and they both laughed loudly. "And, I suspect, it would not let history remember me to fondly. 'The Girl Who Doomed Middle Earth to Three Ages of Suffering and Her Ring.' Not a very charming title."

"That will not be your legacy," Aragorn comforted her. "We each control our own legacy, despite whatever has come before us." His voice had grown grave, and his gaze wandered over the hills before them. Adelaide suspected that he was talking to himself more than to her, and she wondered what weighed so heavily upon him. "It is our choices, that show who we really are."

"Yes… indeed it is," she agreed, and they fell into quiet.

The next two days passed uneventfully. They were full of more elvish lessons for Frodo, and even more sparring lessons for everyone. Adelaide practiced with Aragorn, who was a far more accomplished swordsman than his lean build hinted on. The hobbits were eager to learn everything, from wild foods that could be gathered on their journey, to tales of old from Adelaide and Gandalf, to fighting techniques from Boromir, Legolas, and Gimli.

In their few short days together, the Fellowship had seemed to form unusual bonds, brought together to complete the task of destroying the One Ring. It was small gestures, like taking turns to cook, or shifting the weight in packs as their food supply grew smaller that brought them closer. It was one afternoon as they were settling down to cook a lunch meal that they fell into one of their first true discussions of the trip. The sun shone brightly overhead, and the smell of food sizzling over a fire made every stomach rumble.

"So how do you intend to pass over the mountains, Gandalf," Boromir asked, diving out of the way of Merry and Pippen's combined attack. Adelaide sat on a large boulder observing, and to her surprise Legolas sat next to her, although he did not speak.

"That, I have not yet determined," Gandalf said gravely.

"We should take the Gap of Rohan, it is an easy trip and will take us to my home country. We would be safe in Gondor," Boromir insisted, batting Merry's strike out of the way with ease.

"The Gap of Rohan brings us too close to Isenguard," Aragorn argued.

"And it would add another two months onto our journey, and that is two months we don't have," Adelaide added. Her tone had been much graver than she intended, and Legolas turned to look at her with some surprise. She looked back at him – this was the first time he had acknowledged her in days, and she could feel her heart hammering in her chest.

"Going north of the Misty Mountains provides the same issue," Aragorn added, forcing Adelaide and Legolas to look away from each other. "It would take too long, and those lands are long overridden by Sauron's dark hoards."

 _Mairon's arm is long indeed if he already holds sway in the far North_ Adelaide realized, aghast.

"This leaves only the Redhorn pass," Boromir said at last, failing to keep his disgruntled opinion from his voice.

"Yah!" Pippen shouted as he lunged forward, but again Boromir brushed aside the strike like a mother bear batting at a cub.

"Not a pleasant idea, with winter at our doorstep," Legolas said, and Adelaide let out a small chuckle beside him before she could stop herself. Again he glanced at her, his face devoid of emotion, but Adelaide knew the gleam in his blue eyes, and she smiled hesitantly at him. The corner of his lips twitched, his blonde hair fluttering around his face like stray leaves. _You have left me to deal with my sorrows alone on this dark journey_ she wanted to whisper, but instead she just gazed upon his face, feeling the acute hollowness his departure from her life had left within her chest. Suddenly, from the hollowness the urge to be near him came over her. Adelaide did not know why, but before she could stop to think she reached out with her hand a tucked a stray hair behind his ear, allowing her fingers to run through his silky hair for a moment before pulling away. He froze under her touch, but nor did he turn away. Adelaide could feel her breath catch in her throat and the warmth that radiated from his body. His usual scents of pine and hyacinth still clung to him, despite the grime that caked his clothing. He did not move, and with an overwhelming sense of defeat she turned from him, her body cold as if submerged in a mountain stream.

Legolas stared back at Adelaide. _How long is it since I acknowledged her_ he wondered as her green eyes bore into his own. She looked different from when they left _Imladris_ – her face was narrower, here cheeks hallowed out and her collarbone more prominent under her shirt. Her mane of curls had been pulled back into a complicated braid, but tendrils of hair fluttered around her face, unable to be tamed. And then suddenly she touched him. Her fingertips brushed his cheekbone, sending shivers wracking throughout his body and a burst of warmth across his face. She pulled back almost immediately, her face blank, waiting for his reaction. She pressed her hand to her stomach as if it had been stung, and after a second with no motion from him, she looked away back towards where Boromir and the hobbits were sparring.

Legolas felt a tingle of frustration trickle down his spine as she broke their gaze. They had spoken no words in almost two weeks. A hostility between the two of them that had never existed had formed. Legolas knew that he was responsible for its beginning, he had after all confronted her about Mairon. Yet she had refused to say that she was not in love with the monster. _How could she still love him? Sauron is a murderer – the man you know is dead_ he wanted to scream, but he knew it would get him nowhere. But there had been more secrets than just discovering Adelaide's lost love. Over the past two weeks he had learned more about her than he had in the almost sixty years they had lived together. She was a Queen! The daughter of a goddess! When he tried to think about it, his head would begin to pound. Before him he saw nothing that hinted at unearthly powers, only the figure of a girl emaciated with weariness and grief. Why hadn't she told him? He had been honest with her about everything – she had betrayed him from the beginning. _You do not even know the woman you love_ he scoffed at himself.

And yet, despite the anger that was his constant companion each day and night, he longed for nothing more to pull her close and to press his face into her neck. He could not remember a time when one of their arguments had lasted more than a few days, and typically these were over petty, childish items. But this? This was a fight over what their relationship had been founded upon. _Even worse, she doesn't know who she would choose,_ _if she was given the choice_.

Feeling stifled by his circling thoughts, Legolas got to his feet and wandered away from the ring of fighters over to the edge of the cliff to survey all of Hollin which lay below them. After their many days of hiking, they had begun to climb steeply, picking their way through a winding path of boulders ever upward. Below the ground was brown and dry, but Legolas could still hear the distant music the earth sang of the people who had once cared for it, and the memory brought him some peace.

Behind him he heard Aragorn's somber voice for the first time in a while.

"Would you care to spar?" He asked. Legolas had a guess for who the question was directed at, and the answer confirmed his suspicions despite the fact that the conversation was going on behind him.

"Yes, I feel uneasy. All this sitting has given me energy," Adelaide replied. Legolas too felt uneasy, but he attested this to the growing friendship he was witnessing between Adelaide and Aragorn. The Ranger was deep and brooding, and he wore leadership as a natural mantle. Legolas admired him greatly, but he found the growing attachment the man held for Adelaide unsettling, and it sent angry, possessive gnawings all down his body.

He listened as they drew their swords and began to parry, the clangs and clashes of their blades echoing around them. His sense were sharp, and likewise he could still hear Boromir coaching the hobbits, Sam and Frodo discussing the meal that was cooking, and the smell the weed of Gandalf's pipe.

Yet all of these distractions were beginning to fade into the background as something caught Legolas' eye. Far to the South, just alone the horizon, a small black cloud had formed. In the bright midday sun, it marred the perfectly blue sky, and Legolas watched it absentmindedly for some time and the shapes it made. But the uneasy feeling he had attested to Aragorn began to grow, and suddenly, his stomach seemed to plummet into his navel.

It was not a cloud, but a flock of birds that was approaching their perch – and quickly. _You fool_ he wanted to shout. _The servants of Sauruman approaching from the Gap of Rohan._

"Crebain! From the South! Hide," he shouted, wheeling around and staring frantically at them.

For a second no one moved, and then suddenly there was a flurry of activity. Sam poured water on the fire, sending up a cloud of steam. Gandalf and Gimli set about gathering bags, and Aragorn and Boromir began to direct Merry and Pippen under rocks.

Without thinking Legolas dashed towards Adelaide, who had stowed her sword and was grabbing stray belongings. He stooped beside her, throwing the last bag over his shoulder before grabbing her forearm and dragging her towards a large bounder with an overhang at the bottom. He pushed her in, rather unceremoniously, and then dove in after her.

The space was smaller than he had thought, and he found himself atop Adelaide, pressing her body into the cool dirt. He pressed his face into her shoulder to calm his breathing, but his heart could not stop hammering. She was warm, and despite the immediate danger they were in, he could not stop his mind from wandering to the girl below him. Her body was still, not making a movement or a sound.

They waited, until the gawking of the Crebain could be heard. There was enough flapping to sound like the clap of thunder, which made his skin crawl. The moments passed slowly, the sound of the flock drawing nearer until the sky must have been black with the number of wings that fluttered above them. In his head he cursed himself over and over. The birds would see their tracks, and smell their food which had been cooking only moments before. But there was nothing to be done, and at last the terrible sound of crowing faded away to the South again.

Remembering his position, he hastily crawled off Adelaide, flushing in embarrassment. He turned to offer her his hand, but she had already gotten to her feet and was dusting off her breeches and tunic.

"We have been seen," Gandalf said gravely as they reconvened. "We must move at once, we have been foolish."

"And where are we moving towards? I still say the Gap of Rohan," Boromir chimed in stubbornly.

"Are you truly so foolish, or just completely ignorant. Those were the spies of Sauron who came from the very Gap you speak of!" Legolas spat, his temper getting the best of him. Boromir glared at him, but did not reply.

"Legolas is right; we will have to try our luck with the Redhorn Pass. But I fear now that this too may be closed too us," Gandalf decided.

"Then we make for the pass, and not a moment to loose."

Legolas turned and saw with some surprise that it was Adelaide who said this. Her pack was already on, and her hand rested upon her sword hilt. Despite her emaciated state, there was a glint in her eye which did not entertain argument. For a moment Legolas did not see the sorrowful woman who had haunted his steps the past few weeks, but he saw Adelaide as she was.

Regal, her honey colored curls framed her face like a crown. Piercing cheekbones which were a result of their sparse diet, gave her a cutting, fierce look, and she gripped her sword with such confidence, Legolas knew no enemy would have been able to cut her down at that moment. From her a raw, uncontrolled energy seemed to emit, and Legolas wondered with awe how he had never seen her like this.

"We make for the pass," Gandalf agreed, and the spell was broken. Adelaide was again a young, tired woman. He followed her lead as she set off swiftly up the mountain, the path stored in some long unearthed part of her mind.


	10. Chapter 10: The Redhorn Pass

**Okay sorry not too much in this chapter, but you get to see a more regal Adelaide and this chapter sets up a BIGGUN next chapter. Thanks for being here! Keep reviewing and happy reading:)**

It was as if a fog had finally lifted off of Adelaide's brain, and now a purpose shone clearly before her, burning in her heart and mind like slow, simmering coals at the base of a fire. _I must lead them over the mountains_. She knew the path well, for she had traveled it often, but so did Aragorn and Gandalf, and yet they allowed her to lead onward and followed a pace or two behind. Adelaide could not name what the change was, but the arrival of the Crebain had once again revealed the urgency of their journey to her. _Too long have I been grieving over Legolas_ she thought to herself. _This quest is not for him, but to end the menace on this world: Mairon_.

The arrival of the Crebain had also had a profound effect on Boromir, who dogged Adelaide like a shadow. His face was grim and his sword was loosened in its sheath. _Adversity brings out his leadership_ Adelaide noted with approval.

"Lord Boromir," Adelaide called as they fled the rocks where only hours before they had been spotted by the spies of Saruman. The warrior lengthened his stride and was soon walking alongside her.

"Yes, m'lady," he said, his eyes scanning the land before them. She again saw the frenzied hunger in his eyes she had seen before, but it was smothered by a fierce determination.

"I fear the Crebain will not be the worst of our troubles, and that soon we may once again be pursued," Adelaide panted as she leapt nimbly over a large rock.

"As do I. I can feel a shadow growing upon my heart," Boromir replied gravely.

"If we should be attacked," Adelaide said, lowering her voice so that Sam, who was walking directly behind her, "I ask that you and Aragorn defend the hobbits. Your lessons have been most beneficial to them, but I do not know yet if they are ready for true battle."

Boromir nodded and fell silent for a moment before adding:

"If we have been spotted by spies, do you not think that they will guess where we are heading?" He asked.

"Well of course they will know where we are heading," Gandalf said, appearing behind the pair. "But that does not mean we should not go there."

"What chance do we, nine travelers, have against the might of Saruman, and through him Sauron? They will lay a trap for us," Boromir protested. Adelaide watched his face as he said this, and noted the wrinkle between his brow from worry. Suddenly understanding dawned upon her face. "Would it not be better for us to try the Gap of Rohan? I know that many of you fear that it is too close to Isenguard, but Saruman may least expect it, allowing us to pass through."

Before Gandalf could answer, Adelaide reached out and placed a hand on Boromir's forearm. The soldier stiffened, and the worry lines between his brows disappeared, to be replaced with lines of surprise.

"I know that you wish you return home, for your journey has been long and tiresome, and the path before us seems to grow darker each day, but we have set our course and too it we must stay true. Soon we will be over the mountains and you may pass into Gondor once more," she said with a smile. She felt a twitch of pity in her stomach. _Aren't we all trying to get home? Aragorn to a throne he has never sat before, Boromir to a land he has defended since birth. The hobbits to their beloved shire, and Gimli to his halls of stone. Even myself, although home is like a distant dream. And Legolas_ … but what did Legolas want? Adelaide remembered their fight in the gardens of _Imladris_ and the words he had sobbed returned to her mind. _I would go, and do what I could_ _to destroy this evil and bring you closing happiness, and then I would pass into the West_ , Legolas had cried. He had nothing to gain on this journey, for if the fellowship was unsuccessful, Middle Earth would fall and he was doomed, but if they succeeded… _I will return to Cyprinia and he will loose me_. Suddenly Adelaide felt a chill that had nothing to do with the autumn wind nor approaching snowcapped mountains run down her spine, and her legs felt heavier.

"I too am anxious to return to the land of my forefathers – to reclaim my birthright, but we shall get there in time, Boromir. The white gate shall send up the call when they see the sons of Gondor have returned, this I promise you," Aragorn added. The two soldiers eyed each other for a moment, and then clasped hands. _Unlikely brothers, both in blood and arms_ Adelaide mused.

They marched the rest of that day and all of the following, Adelaide leading them at a breakneck pace. Boromir and Adelaide were not the only ones to have undergone a change, the rest of the fellowship had responded to the Crebain differently. Frodo was more reserved, but the starlight in his eyes seemed to shine perhaps brighter than before. Aragorn more noble, Gimli fiercer, and Legolas more nervous. Merry and Pippen were the only two who kept their spirts up while Sam muttered under his breath to his pony Bill.

The second morning after the attack of the Crebain dawned early and cold, and Gandalf spoke as they all packed their bags.

"We begin up the mountain today. I fear many things as we take the pass, but we cannot know until we try," he said, his lined face set with determination.

"Stay close to me, Frodo," Adelaide heard Aragorn mutter under his breath, but she did not stir.

Slowly the fellowship began the trek upwards. Ever they moved up, and even the stones beneath their feet began to change. Grasses faded to moss, limestone to granite, trees to shrubs. Soon there was no green around them, and all that could be heard was the crunch of gravel under boots. Adelaide could see her breath before her, spiraling in waspy clouds up into the air. They had each donned their thickest cloaks before the march began that morning, but already she could feel the chill that bit at her body.

She had gone through the Redhorn Pass many a time at the peak of winter, and the cold held no fear for her, but she had been alone then. To keep nine others warm? The task would require too much of her power if she had to sustain them through two days and she would be returned to Cyprinia. These gnawing thoughts ate at the back of her mind as the company clambered upward.

"Lady Adelaide," Gandalf panted as they moved upward. Adelaide smiled at him, despite the miserable state her body was in.

"Gandalf," she replied, with a small giggle.

"You will be needed as we pass over. I feel that winter has her grasp tightly around the tops of the Misty Mountains," he stated, his wrinkled brow creasing further.

"I feared that as well. If it was a matter of keeping them warm for only a few hours, I would have no cause for concern – but for two days? And it's not just warmth. Providing them with enough fresh air, clearing their vision of snow and sleet so that they may see the trail before them? I would be denying Death nine captors, and I am afraid that the strength it would take would give Talman cause to return me to Cyprinia," Adelaide admitted.

"The going will be hard then, for I cannot provide strength to all of them either," he replied. "I also fear alerting any watching any eyes to a wizard's presence."

They fell into silence for some time as they walked. Adelaide could hear the familiar click of Gandalf's staff as he moved. They had been on journeys together – delivering messages for Kings, battling against goblin hoards, and of course the journey to defeat Smaug. In their separate paths, they had met in _Imladris_ , Gondor, in the wild places far to the North, or just on the road. And then there had been their time together in the Blessed Realm, before Gandalf had been given human form to end the mystery of the Ring and sent to Middle Earth. He was a constant in her life, and she was glad he was here with her on her final adventure.

"It feels like just a few short months ago that we took this same road with an entirely different company," Adelaide remarked, remembering the thirteen dwarves grumbling as they had climbed up the mountains.

"I never thought you and I would be setting out so soon after that journey completed," Gandalf admitted, his eyes hazy as he recalled.

"Fitting, that you and I, who were here when this world was sung, should leave here together on this final journey," Adelaide said, smiling at him once more. The old wizard smiled back at her, but before he could answer, a voice rang out clear over the whistling wind that wormed its way down through the mountains.

"Well I'll be darned," Sam called out. Adelaide stopped and looked over her shoulder to see the hobbit sanding with his arms extended out, his eyes gazing at the sky with wonder. "It's a snowin!"

Looking up, Adelaide saw a few gentle flakes winding down from the clouds above. She felt a frown threaten to form on her face, but she held herself in check. Sam would understand what the snow meant soon enough, no need to deny him a short moment of joy.

"I've never seen snow," Pippen muttered, allowing a stray snowflake to land on his outstretched fingertip.

Behind the hobbits, Aragorn and Legolas smiled, but Boromir again had the hungry gaze in his eyes as he surveyed Frodo, and Gimili scowled darkly, leaning on his axe.

"Best to keep moving if we insist on going over these blasted mountains," Gimili muttered, and Adelaide agreed, turning back to the path and continuing up.

The world around them continued to change as they hiked. The ground became wet, and then slick with a thin layer of ice, and finally their boots began to sink into a thin layer of snow that had accumulated. The wind became stronger, and it cut at their faces and hands. Poor Sam had to lean his entire body weight against Bill's reigns to keep the horse moving forward. They were still nowhere near the top of the valley, and already the conditions were worse than Adelaide had ever seen them. _This is ill fated._ As they continued to climb, the snow grew deeper. First just barely covering the rocks, then to their ankles, then mid-calf, then knee, and then to her mid-thigh.

Adelaide kicked at the snow, using her hands to force a way through the embankment. Behind her was Gandalf, and behind him Legolas, who walked on top of the snow as if he weighed no more than a feather. Adelaide too could have walked in the elven way, but it would leave no path for the hobbits to follow. Her breathing was labored, and her muscles strained as she pushed forward, the snow constantly berating her face and hands.

"Adelaide, _Ú- Gwedhi_!" A strong voice called from behind. Adelaide did not stop. They had wasted much time with their leisurely pace upward and were paying the price. The snow would stop them if they could not reach the zenith of the path by nightfall. "Lady Adelaide!" The voice called again.

Suddenly through the flurry, a figure loomed before her and Adelaide recognized Legolas kneeing on the snow so that they were face to face.

"Adelaide, you must stop, the hobbits can go no further," Legolas yelled over the howling wind. Adelaide shook her head, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

"If we stop we will never pass over the mountain and will be forced to be turn back," she shouted back.

"Is there nothing you can do for them?" Legolas asked, his face scrunched in concern.

"I can give them a brief respite from the cold at the best, but I have not the strength to sustain them over the entire pass. If they cannot continue now, then it is best for us to turn back now." Adelaide crossed her arms before her chest. They had been toiling through the snow for hours, and the storm had done nothing but grow stronger, as if the mountain itself was unhappy with their presence.

"Adelaide, for all your determination, you cannot carry them over the mountain, nor can any of us. Speak with Gandalf and Aragorn," Legolas said. There was again the look of pity in his eyes that Adelaide despised so. She felt her tears spill over onto her cheeks and freeze on her skin in seconds. She wanted to scream. If they could not get over the mountains, they would lose invaluable time.

Suddenly, as she was wrestling with herself, Legolas reached out and brushed the icicles from her cheeks. Resting his hands on either side of her face, Adelaide's skin burned where he made contact with her, unaccustomed to the warmth.

"Speak with the company – they will go where you lead them," he said, his voice quiet enough so that even with the wind carrying his words, only Adelaide could hear. His ice blue gaze bore into her own eyes and she felt frozen solid, which had nothing to do with the snow. Before she could make a fool out of herself, she tore her face from his grasp and turned back to the company which was several hundred feet behind her down the path she had carved through the snow. She reached them and found the four hobbits huddled next to each other, cheeks rosy in the cold and the corners of their eyes turned down. Keeping her eyes fixed on their crumpled figures, she slid between Aragorn and Gimli and approached them.

Kneeling before Merry, who was the first in the line, she smiled at him hiding her own pain and placing her hands on his cheeks as Legolas had done to her just a few seconds before.

"I'm sorry, Lady Adelaide. I just can't keep going. My feet are frozen solid," he whined.

"It is no matter, Master Merry. You have only a little further to go before we reach the top of the mountain," Adelaide encouraged. _Dear heart_ she thought, and closing her eyes, she bent forward and pressed her lips to his forehead. At the moment her lips brushed his frigid skin, she felt a surge of energy pass from her body into Merry's, which she knew would course through him and warm his body. Leaning back, Adelaide smiled at him once more before moving on to Pippen, then Sam, and finally Frodo, warming each of them with her own strength.

" _Av-ósto,_ Frodo," Adelaide murmured after she had healed him with magic. There was a glint in his eyes, and his newfound warmth seemed to make make his young face glisten with a hint of nobility.

"I am not afraid, _Ú- Gwedhi._ We are with you and the White Wizard, and we will follow until we cannot any longer," Frodo said, his voice echoing with a clear ring. Adelaide nodded at him, taken back by his confidence, and then turned to face Aragorn and Gandalf who had been speaking to each other under their breath.

"I have done for them what I can, we continue on," she commanded, and neither leader dared to argue.

They moved forward, Adelaide once again at the head. But almost from the moment they set out again, Adelaide knew that they did not stand a chance. During their brief respite, the snow had grown as deep as her waist, and she was forced to tear at the snow for each step. Her lungs screamed for oxygen in the high altitude, but she ignored this. They were still far from halfway, and she knew that at the pace they were moving at, the fellowship would never make it. The sky turned from gray to blue and finally to black.

"You have done all you could, Lady Adelaide, but we will go no farther," Gandalf yelled to her from behind her. "The hobbits have used what store of energy you could spare for them, but they are weary, as is the rest of our company."

Adelaide stopped and faced before her, the outlines of the peaks lit before her by moonlight. She had failed to get them through, and the weight was crushing. Hanging her head, she stumbled back, allowing herself to feel the exhaustion that spread through her limbs now. A strong pair of arms caught her, and she recognized the firm grip of Aragorn on her shoulders. Without letting go he steered her back towards the group where she sat in silence, her back against the bank of snow. In the white tunnel, the effects of the wind were less, and she could hear the whispers of the fellowship. Aragorn took the lead due to Adelaide's silence, ordering them to take out their faggots of wood which he had suggested they each carry up the mountain with them for this very purpose. Gandalf had decreed that they would wait and see if the storm would pass, but in her heart Adelaide knew it would not. Some force of the world worked against them, and her darkest fears wondered if Mairon could have something to do with this?

In her eyes should could see his black hair whipping in the wind, his arms outstretched in fury; Adelaide bit her lip to keep from sobbing. Did he know, somewhere out in the wide world that she was working to destroy him? _Does he work to destroy me in return?_ Somehow, this idea seemed worse than the fellowship's being forced to stop. Around her, the rest of the company was falling into an uneasy sleep. Only Legolas was awake, his keen eyes surveying their small group. When he noticed her staring, he stood and came to sit next to her. He made no sound as he moved across the snow, his movements graceful as ever, despite his exhaustion and the cold.

"You must try and sleep. Gandalf has made a fire, and tomorrow we start back down the mountain," he said.

"Back down," Adelaide spat, leaning her head back against the embankment. "My heart and head tell me we will find no success at the bottom of these mountains."

"What would you have us do? It will either kill the hobbits or kill you attempting to pass over these mountains," Legolas reminded her, a fatherly note in his voice. Seeing Adelaide in her weakened state seemed to have made Legolas forget his anger with her for the moment, and he had returned to his protective self.

"I would have us go forward, carry the hobbits if we must," Adelaide said, but she also knew that this was not truly an option.

"You cannot solve each problem, Adelaide," Legolas murmured. "You led us this far, but now you must rest. I will keep watch."

Adelaide did not respond, hearing the truth in his words. Closing her eyes, she slid down so that her chin rested on her chest. Before she fell into dreams, Adara sent a tendril of her magic upward nearly twenty feet into the air. From there, she allowed it to fan outwards, almost like an umbrella, slicing the snow like a sword in the air. Because she was only diverting the snow, it used little of her strength, a mite of energy extending from her body with each second. _At least we will not awake buried in snow_ she thought before her mind succumbed to darkness.


	11. Chapter 11: The Choice

**Sry found a lot of writing errors and so I went back to correct them, but here is chapter 11 for the second time! Please let me know what you think in the comments or if you see any tolkien errors please let me know! Thanks for being here and happy reading:)**

The morning dawned white as the sun glistened on the white mounds of snow surrounding them. Adelaide awoke early, glancing around to find that her magic had kept the fellowship from being encased in snow. Feeling a slight surge of satisfaction, she cut off the magic that had been used to protect them from the snow and began to rouse everyone. Gandalf, Legolas, Boromir, and Aragorn were lively and took little rousing, but the same could not be said for the hobbits and Gimli, who complained loudly about the cold and spent several minutes cursing at anything they could think of.

"Why did you think to come up here anyways, Gandalf?" Gimli grunted, stomping his feet on the frozen ground to encourage circulation to his toes. "We would have been better off to take the Gap of Rohan, or better yet fly over these mountains than to pass this way."

Gandalf did not respond, but his lined face darkened for a moment with a deep frown.

"There is nothing for it but to continue down," Aragorn asserted, eyeing the path that they had taken just the day before. However, where he was looking was not a path but a solid wall of snow as tall as himself or Boromir.

"If it's this deep all the way down the mountain than it will take the better part of the week to clear a path down," Boromir concluded, standing alongside Aragorn and staring into the embankment of snow and ice.

"We're trapped!" Pippen exclaimed, a note of hysteria creeping into his voice.

"No we are not, Master Took, and I would kindly ask that you keep quiet. I've had enough of this mountain and I cannot think if you are blathering on about traps!" Gandalf chided, wrapping his cloak around him further and shuffling up beside the two warriors.

"I will go forward and see how deep the snow is and for how long," Legolas offered, and before anyone could argue or agree, he leapt up onto the embankment in one fluid motion and set off, his footsteps silent as he dashed across the snow.

Only seconds later Adelaide heard him returning, his silver hair glistening in the early morning light. He leapt down into their grotto, his eyes never even skimming her face. _So we are back to silence_ she wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. This was not her place to complain about their state of affairs – getting Frodo and the ring off this mountainside and pointed in the right direction of their quest was the only thing she should be concerned with at the moment. Yet still the return to silence nagged at the back of her mind.

"I bring both good news and bad. The good, the snow only continues this deep for another twenty or forty paces I would deem, but it remains this deep the whole way. From there it turns into a light dusting, almost as if the storm was centered directly above us," Legolas relayed, his musical voice deepening with the sour news.

"Well there is nothing to be done but to dig ourselves out," Gandalf said. "Thank you, Legolas."

Boromir and Aragorn set to work, using Boromir's shield to dig themselves out of the snow and their bodies to force their way through. It was grueling work, and Adelaide itched to be of aid, but Aragorn and Boromir had both declined her offer for help. She sat in the snow with Gimli and the hobbits, listening in silence as they talked over breakfast.

"What I wouldn't give for a pipe full of Longbottom leaf!" Merry concluded, pulling his pipe out of his coat pocket and staring at it longingly.

"Or a pint of ale from the Green Dragon," Sam added, his eyes more forlorn than Adelaide had every seen them.

"I don't suppose any hobbit from the Shire has ever been this far from home," Pippen said, glancing around at their small, snowy cell. "Well, besides Bilbo that is," he added hastily, inclining his head towards Frodo.

"No, I suppose you're right, Pippen. And even when Bilbo tried to pass this way he encountered Rock Giants and fell down a cave infested with goblins," Frodo said with a frown.

" _And_ he met that stinker Gollum and started this whole nasty business," Sam added, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You four are the most miserable creatures I have ever met," Gimli concluded, laughing at each of them in turn. "I for one would like to return to these mountains with a whole hoard of my people! They have deep bones, and what we could learn and discover I do not know!"

"I," Gandalf interjected darkly, "do not wish that Gimli. You know what happened when your people delved too deep."

Silence fell over the group and Adelaide felt a chill trickle down her spine which had nothing to do with the cold. She knew that Gandalf spoke of Moria and the monsters held within, but the wizard's threat did not seem to phase Gimli, who looked more offended than anything else.

While they had talked and sat and ate, the better part of the morning had wasted away. At last Aragorn and Boromir returned, both dripping with sweat and hunched with weariness, but their eyes glinted with pride and they announced to everyone that the path had been cleared. The snow at their feet still stretched to their knees, and so they were forced to take the hobbits in twos on their back through the tunnel. Legolas scampered along the top of the snow, and Gimli pushed through, grumbling that no man would carry him like a sack of wood. Gandalf was the second to last, and Adelaide brought up the rear, finally emerging from the snow to find it just as Legolas described: the embankment ended abruptly and all that remained was a light dusting of snow on the ground as they continued down the mountain.

"We are going to have to find another path to take," Adelaide sighed, glancing at Aragorn's solemn face.

"I know. And I have a growing fear that the longer we tarry getting across these mountains, the more our enemy will learn about us. Time is not our friend," he replied.

"I too have a growing fear. That was no natural snowstorm."

"And we cannot forget the Crebain. We will need to find a safe place to camp tonight," Aragorn concluded, wiping the sweat from his brown.

Adelaide frowned, seeing the weariness in his form. He was right, returning down the mountain made them vulnerable, but they had no choice. Adelaide herself felt the usual weariness that accompanied their travels, but as they moved further and further down the mountain and the oxygen grew thicker, she felt light and her mind more focused. Something was coming, but what that was, she did not know.

It was just at sunset that they reached the base of the mountain and began to look for a place to camp. There were no trees or rocks, and finally they decided upon the top of a hill where they would be able to see for miles around. The base was covered with scraggly bushes, and they all stopped to gather wood for new faggots. Sam's pony nickered at the sight of grass and Sam himself seemed to be pleased as well.

"Nothing so natural and beautiful as grass I always say, Bill," he murmured into his horse's ear.

When at last they reached the top of the hill, the hobbits collapsed, as did Boromir. Above them the stars twinkled dimly, and Adelaide smiled, thinking to herself of the many nights she had wandered this way during a happier time. The air was fresh, and she breathed deeply, the sounds around her falling away.

"What was it like," a voice from behind her that was so gentle it could only belong to Legolas asked. "When the elves lived here – what was it like?"

Adelaide turned and found his blue eyes boring into her own evergreen. Her heart stopped for a moment, but with a shake, she smiled hesitantly at him.

"It was beautiful. The very trees themselves sang in the wind, and people with good hearts could wander freely through the land," Adelaide recalled, in her mind the image of rolling green hills lush with wildflowers and bees humming lazily through the air. "Their cities were magnificent, and the lady of the wood and Celeborn ruled before the fall of Eregion. It was here that the rings of power, all of them save my own, were crafted."

"They were made by elvish hands?" Legolas said with disgust, his face contorting in horror. Adelaide felt pity stir in her stomach.

"They were deceived. Mairon came to them in a beautiful form – not the twisted creature he had become. He called himself Annatar, the giver of gifts, and he taught them the way of ring making. Of course Celebrimbor, the greatest of all elvish craftsmen was suspicious, but the rest of the smiths were deceived—"

"Lady Adelaide," Gandalf interrupted. "This is not the place nor the time for this tale! Do not be a fool and speak of such a horrid past in a place like this." He _hmphed_ loudly and then strode over to where the hobbit were laying out their sleeping mats.

"Why trick the elves? Could he not have created them on his own?" Legolas asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. Adelaide felt the pity in her stomach grow. _Nin mel_ she wanted to say, and to pull him into a hug, but she only shook her head.

"I do not know. Perhaps when he betrayed the Valar he lost the ability to craft, but I think it was that perhaps he missed the beauty of the world; in his exile, he was denied this. He always loved beautiful things, flowers and forests and creatures," Adelaide offered.

"You most of all," Legolas added, a layer of frost returning to his voice. Adelaide said nothing and pressed her mouth closed. _And me most of all_ she thought, the truth in his words ringing true.

"We should sleep, tomorrow we will have a long journey, whichever course we decide to pursue."

"We cannot rest until we decide our path," Boromir said, and his voice was like gravel with exhaustion and something more. Adelaide eyed him, noticing a severe glint in his eyes.

"Well what are our choices?" Merry asked, sitting up on his bed roll. "I haven't been of much use on this adventure, but if there is an option that does not involve climbing mountains I am in full support of it. I can't say I'm very keen to try that again."

"Hush Merry, I don't think this decision is for a Took and a Brandybuck to decide," Pippen scolded under his breath.

"The young hobbit makes a fair point Gandalf," Gimli said. Why go over our around when we could go _through_. The mines of Moria are open to us, Gandalf, and my cousin Balin will be there to see us safe passage."

"Will no one listen to reason? The Gap of Rohan is a simple journey, and does not include orc infested tunnels. When was the last anyone heard from Balin? Every realm heard of his journey in, but Gondor has not had word in many months!" Boromir retorted.

"And why should we walk ourselves into the hands of a traitor and powerful enemy?" Gimli shouted. "Saruman is certain to be watching the Gap of Rohan!"

"Lady Adelaide, what do you think? You have walked these paths, both, many times over," Aragorn asked, his steady voice bringing a sense of calm to the discussion.

"They are both dark choices in a darker time, Lord Aragorn," Adelaide responded. What could she say, she favored neither course, and would have preferred to try the Redhorn pass again, but it was closed against them. "Of the present company, I have been through Moria the most recently. I was alone and forced inside to escape a storm," Adelaide murmured, unable to keep the shaking from her voice. "The air is wretched and festering, and nothing wholesome grows in that darkness. I did not attempt to pass through, for my heart warned me that the crossing would not be simple, and so I exited as I came in."

"But perhaps that has changed since Balin arrived!" Gimli offered.

"It is possible, though not probable, Master Dwarf," Adelaide admitted. "It would take more than a few hundred dwarves to drive out the darkness unearthed there. Durin and his people dug and built recklessly, and we will pay for their folly if we pass through Khazad-dûm."

"Then you support the Gap of Rohan!" Boromir exclaimed, again the greedy light flashing in his eyes.

"No, Lord Boromir, I do not. I do not think I can give council with such dark options before us. My heart would say to try the Redhorn pass again, but it is closed by some unnatural force and we will find no success there a second time. Master Gimli is right, to walk the Gap of Rohan would be a fool's hope. I have power of my own, but I fear it may not just be a fight against Saruman, but against all the forces of Isenguard, an army and a sorcerer that I alone cannot keep at bay unless I release too much of my power and am returned to Cyprinia."

Silence fell and everyone turned inward to their thoughts. Adelaide scanned the gathering to see how her words had been received. Aragorn and Legolas were unflinching, but both Boromir and Gimli were flushed with anger at the rebuke of their options. All the hobbits but Frodo were quaking, the latter sitting stoically with a gleam of determination in his eyes.

"We can discuss this all night, but it will get us no closer to Mordor," Gandalf chimed. "As I see it, we can choose a certain but definable danger with the Gap of Rohan, or the chance of unknown danger in Moria. We could cast lots, but I think it wisest for the ring bearer to decide, for we are but here to aid him with the burden he bears."

Frodo sat up a little straighter, and after several moments of quiet, he spoke:

"Dark are the days when we must choose between paths such as these. If I had known what my journey was to be when I sat before the council, I may never have taken it. Yet alas! For the choice is mine, and I alone must choose." Here he paused to take a deep breath. "We will go through Moria and hope that the darkness will cloak us, not endanger us."

Adelaide felt as if a hand of ice had been wrapped around her heart, slowly compressing. Her eyes locked with Gandalf's, and she saw the same fear that must be reflected within her own. _You know what the dwarves awoke there_ she thought and she pushed the message to his mind where she felt him spark with surprise.

 _Only danger and ruin await us in those tunnels_ Gandalf's thoughts echoed around her head.

 _One of the two of us will have to face it_ Adelaide replied, the image of the fiery beast which lay somewhere in the shadows filling the forefront of her brain. She could feel every hair on her body stand on end. _None of the others can withstand the power. I could perhaps hold it off long enough -_

 _It must be me_ Gandalf's deep voice boomed in her head. There was no hesitation, and his certainty captivated her. _Erui Adaneth, the Great Wanderer, you must be with the Fellowship. You must end this misery, and you must guide them_. His tone had grown gentle, speaking to her not as their leader, but as her friend.

 _I cannot guide them, give the post to Aragorn, but I think you a right, although it brings great pain to my heart. I must be there when Mairon is destroyed_.

 _My dear friend_ Gandalf thought.

 _Your light will be sorely missed, my friend_ Adelaide answered.

 _Do not mourn for me, our journeys have been long and weary. See them safely out of the mines, we will not be able to get through unscathed_ Gandalf concluded.

Adelaide severed the connection between their thoughts and was startled to find tears on her cheeks. She had not known herself to be crying, but Gandalf's gaze was soft and he smiled at her from across the fire. Their friendship was a rock in Adelaide's long, wearisome existence in Arda. _To think that he might pass in mere days…_ it was unfathomable.

"How the wind howls tonight," Frodo said, bringing an abrupt silence to the crowd sitting around the fire to listen to the wind around them. There seemed to be a moaning in the distance, and dread filled Adelaide from her head to her toes.

"That is no wind, Master hobbit," she whispered, drawing her blade.

"Wargs! Wolves and Orcs! We cannot delay our flight to Moria until the morning," Aragorn called out, leaping to his feat.

"We must, Aragorn!" Gandalf cried, picking up his staff. "We cannot travel in darkness or risk losing the way. The Dimrill Dale and the gates of Moria are 15 miles as the crow flies, and with wolves on our feet we will need to be right in our path."

Suddenly, from behind the wizard there was a snarling close at hand and a great hulking beast with grey fur leapt from the shadows into the light. Before anyone could respond, Legolas had drawn his bow and sent an arrow to burry itself deep in the creature's neck. With a yelp, the warg collapsed on the fire, its eyes dim an unmoving. Adelaide summoned the hobbits to collect their things, her mind sharp and clear under the circumstances. Out of the corner of her eye, she never lost sight of Frodo. He was sitting upon a stone with Sting across his knees, his starlight filled gaze fixated upon the darkness around them.

"Lady Adelaide, fire!" Gandalf shouted, and with several words in elvish the warg's body burst into flame. Stowing her blade, she summoned her magic, using her hands to bid tendrils of fire to flow through the air. Moving like currents of liquid magma in underground tunnels, she ushered the flames to the withered shrubs and trees at the foot of the hill. Slowly a ring of flame encased the base of the hill, lighting the surrounding area for all to see.

Circling just outside the flames, several wolves the size of horses could be seen. Some had orc riders, and some were so ferocious they would bear no creature. _How foolish we have been_!

"What say we give them a taste of steel," Aragorn whispered into her ear. "We will not be able to flee with them right on our heels, so we must drive them off."

"Let Anduril, Flame of the West, and Authiel, Daughter of the Dim, be raised in battle together, and may all our foes weep when they see their light flashing," Adelaide said, and with grim smiles they charged down the hill. Aragorn let out a hoarse cry which melded into Adelaide's own, her body searing with anger and frustration at the situation they found themselves in. Every inch of her body was light and aware and prepared to fight, and as they drew closer to the swirling hoard of wargs, her senses seemed to heighten.

With howls of their own, the pair leapt over the ring of flames, their blades gleaming in the firelight and fell upon the mass of creatures. Back to back they swayed and danced, Authiel moving like an extension of her arm. Letting her frustrations air as energy, she watched as if disconnected as her sword pierced eyes and throats, sliced off legs and arms. She ducked when a volley of arrows was sent their way by a gathering of orcs just outside their line of sight, and at the last minute Adelaide cast an invisible shield over Aragorn who's back was to the volley. The arrows hung in midair before she vaporized them, her anger only growing by the second.

The wolves for their pair snarled and snapped and moved with unknown agility, leaping at their throats and legs, forcing Aragorn and Adelaide to circle. Yet for all their ferocity, they were no match, and after several more minutes, they disappeared into the darkness, leaving the bodies of their comrades there to rot.

"We must move now," Adelaide panted, cleaning her sword on one of the dead warg's fur.

"I do not know the way, but I will follow where you lead, my lady," Aragorn said, his grey eyes boring into her own. Adelaide fell still for a moment, captivated by the intensity in his gaze, until finally she forced herself to break it and make her way back up the hill. Aragorn followed only one step behind.

"We leave, now," she said, glancing out over the horizon where light was beginning to grow in the east.

"I shall lead, come along hobbits!" Gandalf cried, and without any delay, they fled. Adelaide stowed her sword and glanced behind her at the carcasses, her mouth growing dry. _We are moving from one doom to the next_ she thought, her heart heavy in her chest as she began to jog to catch up.

On her hand, her ring singed painfully, and Adelaide, not for the last time, cursed her situation and Mairon and her own foolishness.


	12. Chapter 12: The Lake

**It has truly been so long and I cannot say I am sorry enough! This chapter is extra long to make up for it! Lots of excitement in this latest installment - things are really getting juicy. As always I own nothing except for my OC's, please let me know your thoughts, comments, concerns and questions! I appreciate all of my readers so much! Enjoy Xx**

They fled through the night, the sky growing light around them as the sun slowly clawed its way into the sky. Adelaide's breath seemed to stick in her throat as they moved, her lungs unable to bring in enough air. They had been foolish, and reckless, and it could have resulted in someone being injured. The pack was still hot at their heels, but after hers and Aragorn's skirmish and her own display of power, they were not keen to try the party again just yet.

In front of her the hobbits trudged along, the early morning light making the curls in their hair glow. It had not escaped Adelaide's notice that Frodo had been the one to notice the signs of attack, the first to hear the howling of the wargs. _Perhaps the ring enhances his abilities? Hobbits are already light of foot and gifted with sharp ears, but we do not know all of the abilities that ring possesses_ Adelaide wondered, feeling again the searing pain on her finger due to the proximity of Mairon's ring.

At the front of their fellowship Adelaide could just see the tail end of Gandalf's grey cloak whipping in the wind, his pointed hat a beacon for them to follow. _It must be me_ Gandalf had said, in reference to the Balrog. She could still hear his voice echoing in her skull, his age suddenly overwhelming to her. _And yet to me he is a summer child_ Adelaide thought, feeling her nose begin to run with restrained tears. She knew that the decision had been made, but the thought that Gandalf might not defeat the darkness lodged there? It was unfathomable.

Despite their exhaustion, the fellowship moved with uncanny speed – even Sam's pony Bill seemed to recognize the danger they were in, and trotted forward without a whinny of complaint. Adelaide and Aragorn brought up the rear alongside Legolas and Gimli, on the off chance that the wargs attacked again, they would need warriors prepared to fight. Yet despite their preparedness, they heard no sign of being followed, although Adelaide reasoned that the wargs could not be too far off. _More likely they are regrouping and preparing for another strike._ Still, the silence unnerved her.

Gandalf led the group straight and true, and the miles melted away beneath them. When they stopped briefly for food or water, no one spoke, and the air hummed as if waiting for some unknown, urging them to continue forward.

"The earth is singing," Legolas said, glancing over his shoulder at Adelaide as they passed between two hills. The land was fast fading from green grasses and shrubs to gray, as if in the shadow of the mountains no color could be born. Aragorn and Gimli gave the two of them quizzical looks, but she could only focus on the blue of his eyes, the familiar phrase striking deep within her chest. This was a phrase she and Legolas had developed many years ago, one that he used when they were out fighting spiders and other foul beasts that had begun once more to invade Mirkwood. He could read the signs of the earth, and Legolas was now interpreting some warning. His words sent evil crawling across her skin, and she frowned.

"How loudly," Adelaide replied, never breaking eye contact with him. The use of his old saying had sent a pang of sadness through her. If she tried hard enough, she could pretend that the two of them were on one of their old scouting trips, but she could not erase the stillness in his eyes nor deny the truth of their situation: that Legolas and her relationship had evolved, and Adelaide did not know if she could fix it.

"I do not think the wargs are close, but she is singing as if they were hot on our heels, can you not hear?" He asked, somewhat surprised. In truth, Adelaide had not tried, and so dropping to her knees, she allowed the fellowship to continue on while she listened.

Digging her fingers into the ground, she closed her eyes and extended her senses, and almost immediately her mind was hit with a cacophony of ringing and hums. It felt as if every nerve in her body was screaming, the racket ripping her innards apart with vibrations. With a gasp, she ripped her hands from the soil and sprang to her feet, surprised to find Legolas standing beside her as the fellowship winded away before them, his hands outstretched towards Adelaide as if he thought she might faint. Her heart pounded in her chest, and to some surprise she found a spark of anxiety deep blooming within her stomach.

"It comes from before us," she whispered, turned to once more gaze at Legolas. He nodded but said nothing. "We are walking to our doom."

"This quest was always our doom," Legolas replied, his hands once more dropping to his side when he saw that Adelaide was not going to collapse. "Whether it was here or in the end." His voice was cold, and she knew he spoke of her return to Cyprinia, but for the first time since her initial outburst back in _Imladris_ she felt a spark of anger.

"You speak of a future you cannot see and know nothing about," she snapped. Their moment of briefest tenderness the mountain had changed things for Adelaide, and now staring at him, she felt a longing to be close to him she had been fighting to hold at bay. Legolas had been right, she had always been running towards her own escape from this land, and in the process how many people beyond just him had she hurt. _How many people have loved you and tried to make this place home for you and have you turned aside_ Adelaide wondered. Legolas had held every right to be furious with her, but standing across from him, a growing sense of foreboding welling within her, she not only felt remorse for her actions, but a resurgence of the anger that had welled within her in _Imladris_. Adelaide bit her lip, staring back at Legolas, who's icy gaze was still cold and out of reach.

"And can you see the future?" Legolas demanded. _And can you tell me that you will not leave when this quest is over_ his question truly asked. Adelaide hesitated, searching his eyes for any of their typical warmth. She felt as if her answer was a trap. Adelaide would _have_ to leave Middle Earth, whether it be by her own release when Mairon fell and she finally forgave herself for the foolish mistakes of her past, or when Talman, her father in Cyprinia summoned her home against her bidding. _I am not of this world_ she recalled telling the council, _how can I stay here Legolas, even if I chose it?_ Yet for the first time, as she stared back at her counterpart, the company treading further and further away to their left, Adelaide felt the blossoming of something unfamiliar in her chest – _doubt._

 _I must leave, but perhaps I do not want too_ she considered, the thought entirely unfamiliar to her. And the moment it crossed her mind, the anger that had begun to summer whirled over. _Who is he to make me doubt myself? A summer child of hardly a thousand years – he knows nothing of what I have suffered, not just in this world, but in many others, in my own._ She wanted to laugh and cry and rain fire down from the sky and melt away into nothingness, but Adelaide had no choice but to remain. Alive and breathing in this eternal present where she could not escape and could not change the things she had done, the mistakes she had made, nor look forward to a future where she was bound to make as many more.

"I thought not," Legolas murmured after a time, unable to keep the distain from his voice. Without another word he turned on his heel and dashed across the land, the ground disappearing under his long, light strides. _Nin mel_ Adelaide thought with a pang that shocked her too the farthest corner of her chest, breaking through her anger. _What have I done?_

Legolas was not the first man she had fallen in love with outside of her home land of Cyprinia. There had been many others, countless others, each as varied and storied as the lands they inhabited, each love ending in tragedy when at last she was summoned home. Even in Middle Earth Adelaide had woven in and out of love stories, Mairon, with men of Gondolin, Elves of Lothlorien, and so recently, and young dark haired dwarf on a recent journey… _Don't think of him_ Adelaide commanded herself. Legolas was so innocent – naïve, and in his naivety he had shown that the simple, stern rules of the Greenwood had not prepared him for the truth of Adelaide's past. But his naivety had also shown Adelaide what her own effect was upon those she cared for. _You claim to love them, but you love them knowing you will leave them_ a part of her mind nagged. _But is it better to have loved and hold to dear memories even when the other is gone or to never love at all? Either seems detestable_. With a sigh that could not still the swirling thoughts and emotions within her, Adelaide broke into a light jog to catch up with the fellowship.

At the base of the mountains some time later, the land once more turned to rock and they were forced to scramble upwards across loose stone and slate. Now that she opened her senses to the whispers of the land, Adelaide could not deny the mounting noise that rattled within her. She knew that behind them the warg back was simply regrouping, but to go forward now seemed like a fool's hope. _And yet we cannot try for the Redhorn or pass or Gap of Rohan now – our fate is sealed!_

"We must be nearing the entrance?" Gimli grunted, tapping on one large boulder with the corner of his axe, sending a sharp "ping" into the surrounding glade. "The stone here is strong, and much of it sings dwarfish mining tunes. These boulders come from caves, excavated by my people!"

"Yes, Master Dwarf, we are," Gandalf replied, his cheeriness masking the dread Adelaide knew he held within. "Just ahead is a lake, and on the far side of it, is, of course, the door!"

"Door?" Merry asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice. "They've just made a door anyone can come and go from as they please? Not a very secure place, eh Pippin!" At this comment Gimli chuckled.

"Dwarfish doors are not like hobbit holes or elvish homesteads, Master Meriadoc. They are hidden to all but those who can see them, and you must have the password. We do not invite just any stray traveler into our abode," he boasted.

"Nor do men or Elves," Boromir included, his brow furrowed.

"Nor hobbit holes," Sam added.

"Do we have the password?" Frodo asked, always the one to remain focused on the task at hand, his starlight eyes scanning the basin around them with a trained eye.

At this question Gandalf released a long, blustering breath, as if to say "you doubt me?" Which Adelaide immediately knew to mean that Gandalf did _not_ know the password and was relying on his vast intellect. Had she not been through enough close escapes with her longtime companion, Adelaide might have felt more afraid, and so instead she laughed. Aragorn cast her a wide-eyed look, but she just shook her head at him. There was no point in explaining that Gandalf did not have the word. If truly tested, she was certain she could come up with it from her own travels, if given enough time to think, and if not enough time, what was a warg pack to a warrior as tried and tested as she? _I have faced far worse_ Adelaide thought with a grimace, some of her usual confidence returning despite the intensity of vibrations echoing from just before them where she knew the lake stood.

At last they reached the top of the knoll, but even since her last journey here, the land had fallen into far greater disrepair. Thick reeds surrounded the edges of the lake, and no ripples moved across the inky, black surface.

"The water is unwholesome," Legolas chimed, his mouth turning downward slightly.

"Yes," Gandalf mused, for the first time some of his forced cheeriness melting from his tone. "I think it best not to touch the water." Here he cast a stern eye in the direction of Merry and Pippin before turning to face Sam. "And here, you must say farewell to your faithful steed. Moria is no place for a pony, not even so fine a one as this."

"But he'll just get eaten by the warg pack! We're sendin' him to his death!" Sam puffed, stopping dead in his tracks, his eyes seeking anyone who might take his side.

"No we will not," Adelaide said at once. _It is the least I can do_ she thought, smiling down at Sam, who despite his stature stood protectively before an ignorant Bill. "I will say a few words over him. They will tell him where to hide and give him a safe, little traveled route away from here, and I will erase his scent for some time. If we are half as lucky as Bill, we will see this good creature again in the stables of _Imladris_."

Slowly, Sam gave her a curt nod, and then turned and began to remove the few remaining packs their beast carried. Their food stores had diminished so greatly that Bill hardly carried anything any longer, and it only took a few moments.

"You'll be getting good hay and oats soon, I reckon," Sam murmured as he worked, a soft eye cast upon the unknowing creature. "And good Lady Adelaide is gonna say a few words, keep you nice and safe." With one final hug around the chestnut creature's neck, he stepped aside for Adelaide.

Bill's hide was soft under her hands, and with a small smile she closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against the pony's. Speaking in the language of her birth, Cyprinian, she let the power in her words wash over her, easing away her exhaustion as she reached her mind out to the creature in her arms and let the language of her home sooth her.

" _Go forth from here and do not tarry. Step lightly, leave no trail, and follow the elf-song home, to_ Imladris. _May the stars guide you, the grass feed you, and the wind always be in your mane. Our blessings be with you,"_ Adelaide whispered. She could feel Bill tense for a moment under her hands, but there was a slight spark in his conscious as he recognized her words, and as soon as she fell silent, he pulled away and began to trot off to the left where a large rockslide of boulders would guard his path home to safety. With one final whiny and flash of a copper tail, he was gone, and Adelaide felt a slight pressure on her forearm. Glancing down, Sam smiled up at her, the edges of his eyes red, and then the moment passed and they had once again begun to travel around the lake.

"What language did you speak, my Lady," Aragorn inquired as they walked. "I consider myself well versed in the languages of Middle Earth, but that was one as unfamiliar to me as the land of Valinor." Adelaide felt herself break into a smile, her eyes trained upon the edge of the lake where a dark sludge was the only giveaway that the gray land melted into black water.

"Cyprinian, the language of my mother and of my father and of my birth," she replied. "I have not spoken it in many thousand years, although it still remains as familiar as the day I first spoke it." In truth she had not decided to speak her birth tongue, but with her true identity revealed, her subconscious seemed to takeover and she slipped once more into the old familiar words.

"It sounds like the wind," Aragorn replied, and glancing up from the side of the lake she saw his shadowed face staring intently at her. With a slight shock, she turned back to the water, frowning at the stillness she saw. She did not have time for his curious gaze nor the gentleness of his voice. Before her, Legolas crouched beside the water's edge.

"Here!" Gandalf said after they had traipsed approximately one third of the circumference of the shore. They came to a halt before a large granite slab with two old and regal holly trees on either side, at once the memory of the place flooding back unbidden.

"The West-Gate," Adelaide said, her vision flickering briefly to a sunny day in this spot many hundreds of years ago where a crowd far greater than this one gathered along the water's edge and watched as elves and dwarves together planted the grandsires of the trees that currently stood before her. The sun had borne down upon them and the waters were a gentle blue, and none could have foreseen the ruin that would one day rain down upon them. _None but me_ she thought with disgust, again feeling the burning upon her hand where the ring touched her skin.

"I see no gate," Boromir grunted. Beside her Adelaide saw Legolas cross his arms and she bit back a smile, but when she turned to share her laughter with him, his gaze was fixed firmly upon the wall before them, and she turned back to issue before her, feeling a heaviness not previously in her shoulders.

"One moment," Adelaide replied. Standing before the wall she suddenly felt younger, as if this doorway she traveled so many times was also a doorway to her memories. Stepping into the shadow of the mountain, she placed a hand upon the granite slab, extending her fingers and feeling the sandy grit beneath her skin. Closing her eyes, Adelaide felt the slightest trickle of wind slide across her neck, and with a small release of energy that rushed down her arm and through her fingers, she felt grains of sand fall onto her skin as the carvings of the door revealed themselves at last.

"Good Heavens!" Merry whispered, and Adelaide opened her eyes, looking upwards at the West Gate which revealed a carving of stone pillars and vines and a phrase in elvish which read –

"Speak friend and enter," Gandalf murmured, as he had stolen the words from her mind.

"Well what does that mean?" Sam demanded. Beside her Gandalf spun to give the hobbit a very tired look.

"Well it's quite simple really. It means if you are a friend, you speak the password, and then you may enter!" Gandalf replied, once again turning to face the stone. Pressing his staff to the rock, the wizard closed his eyes and began to mumble in elvish. Here at last the truth was revealed.

"You don't know it?" Boromir spat. "We're going to be cornered by a pack of wargs come sundown or else be murdered by some other foul creature that Saruman and Sauron have prepared for us. And to think, we could have taken _my_ suggestion!"

"Peace, Boromir. Gandalf with think of it," Adelaide soothed, not bothered by his flustered proclamation, but again taking note of the wildness in his eyes. It had grown more and more common too him, and the more often she made eye contact with the Lord, the more often she saw the gaze.

"Could you think of the word?" A voice that could only be Aragorn's asked from behind. Spinning, she saw him, leaning against one of the larger boulders by the water's edge, the hobbits and Gimli discarding their packs at his feet.

"I am certain of it, if given enough time, and perhaps before then, yet the last time I came here I found horrors within and it seems as if I have pushed the memory of my most recent return deep within my mind," Adelaide admitted, feeling a slight sense of uselessness. _What good is being the memory of a world if you cannot recall the information you possess when the need strikes?_

"This is ridiculous," Boromir chimed, throwing down his bag beside the hobbits and coming to stand beside Aragorn. Adelaide surveyed the group, noting the hunch of their shoulders, the mat in their hair, and the dirt that seemed to cling to every crevasse of their clothing and skin. She herself looked worse for the wear, with dirt under her nails and mud caking her boots and dark stains of what could only be orc blood soaked into her blue tunic. Had they come by this road in a safer time, she would have encouraged the fellowship to halt and unload their packs and bathe in the waters, but now only the stillness remained and the unwholesome dread that seemed to emanate from the water. There were stories of what dwelt in the lake now that the Sirannon river had been dammed and the springs allowed to grow stagnate, but she did not want to dwell on its shores for more time than necessary and risk discovering it herself.

Frodo sat hunched, his arms wrapped around his chest where the ring lay. _How heavy the burden is_ Adelaide thought, feeling the searing on her own finger. She wondered if Frodo would ever stand straight again, should this journey ever find an end. In some attempt to make herself useful, Adelaide released a small tendril of energy and sent it flowing towards Frodo – not enough for him to notice her interference, but when at last she was done, he sat up perhaps the straighter.

"The West Gate you called it, m'Lady," Gimli grunted, chewing on the end of his pipe despite the fact that his stores of smoking week had been extinguished long ago. Adelaide turned her attention from Frodo to the red-haired dwarf. "But to us dwarfs, we know it as Durin's Gate. In Erabor, we have maps that remained safe from dragon fire the long years, and which detail a path that runs from Durin's Gate to Khazad-dûm – straight under the mountains – if you know the way," he chuckled with a wink. He alone of the company still had optimism, his voice buoyant despite the location of their respite and the proximity to the ever ominous water.

" _If_ we know the way," Boromir spat, tossing a rock from hand to hand, his blond hair tucked behind his ears and his posture stiff and unbending. "It seems to me that if we do not even know the password, we can hardly be expected to know the path."

"We don't know the path?" Merry squeaked, staring from Boromir to Gandalf who still remained muttering before the gates. Adelaide felt a bubbling of annoyance. The hobbits looked to Boromir for guidance, his sword-lessons had given him respect in their eyes, and he had no right to make them fear like this.

"I can be of assistance there," Adelaide interjected, unable to keep a coolness from sliding into her voice as she met Boromir's wild stare with her own. "I have tread the paths within more than any other alive, should we get in, both Gandalf and myself know the way."

"All the same," Boromir said, the rock that passed from hand to hand unceasing, "we were foolish not to take the Gap of Rohan."

And with a snort, he yanked the rock from the air, whipped his arm back, and let the stone soar out over the lake where it landed far into the center, dropping into the inky blackness with hardly a sound. There were no ripples. To Adelaide, it felt as if the stone had struck her in the gut, nausea welling within her. If perhaps their presence upon the lake's shore had gone unnoticed, it was not any longer.

"Boromir!" Aragorn chastised, laying his hand on Boromir's arm. It struck her again in the light of the setting sun of how kingly Aragorn could appear when he chose to bear his mantle of leadership. "Do not touch the water again."

"Bah," Boromir spat, pulling his arm out from under Aragorn's hand with a jerk.

 _Hurry my friend,_ Adelaide thought, turning over her shoulder to look at Gandalf, sending her thoughts to meld with his. _I fear whatever time we had is lost._

 _I am close, I have determined it is not a phrase, but a word._ Gandalf's thoughts sent a spark through her mind, and closing her eyes she recalled her prior journey into the gates, the rain beating down upon her in the sparse moonlight, the _ithildin_ inlaid upon the doors glowing faintly.

 _No, it is perhaps a rhyme, or a riddle?_ Gandalf nodded as her thoughts connected with his, and she felt the course of his mutterings change as she severed the connection of their minds. The final rays of the sun were melting behind the mountains, and once more the door was beginning to glow in the faint starlight.

"If we wait much longer, the wargs will catch up with us," Pippin said, pulling at a piece of dried meat with his teeth looking entirely uncomfortable. Adelaide might have laughed if she was not so focused upon the water and what brewed underneath. Her senses told her nothing had stirred as of yet, but that some evil intent had been latched upon them, and she felt her dread grow.

"They are far off, Master Peregrin," Legolas replied, at last joining their circle and leaving Gandalf to mutter in peace. "They too fear the water just as we do."

"So what are we doing sitting beside it then if a bunch of orcs and wargs do not want anything to do with it?" Sam asked, bewildered, his hand resting upon Frodo's shoulder.

"We are not sitting," Gandalf interrupted, turning to face them with a broad smile. "Pick up your bags, I have at last remembered the word." There was a jostle of activity as everyone stopped to collect their belongings. In the cover of the noise, Adelaide loosened Authiel in her sheath, staring not at the gate but at the water, for she had at last felt the shivers of the earth as the Watcher in the water stirred.

"Legolas," Adelaide murmured, her voice barely audible, and yet she knew he would hear her – after years and years together, his movements were like the back of her hand. Beside her, the silver haired captain stepped forward, only the slight wrinkle in his brow betraying his worry.

"How many?" He asked, staring at the water. He was adept at listening to the warnings of the earth, but his senses were not as attuned as her own – he was, after all, young.

"Only one. Very old, and very angry," she replied, gripping Authiel and pulling her blade from her sheath. With a delicate flourish, she felt her muscles church with tension, every nerve in her body awake and aware of the growing sense of doom that threatened to penetrate her mind. From behind the two of them, Gandalf's voice rose above the adjusting of packs and armor.

" _Mellon!_ " He chanted, and there was a great cracking sound as at last the doors opened and a gust of stale, rank air churned from behind them, rustling the few curls that had escaped her braid and sending a shiver down her spine. But before she could turn to see the inside of Moria, the surface of the lake began to boil, as if the echoing crack of the door had been a signal to the Watcher.

"Gandalf, get inside," Adelaide shouted, all pretense dropped from her voice. _Foolish Boromir_ she wanted to scream, but instead she was forced to watch as at first one and then two and then what looked like twenty black tentacles slid into the air, the water on the slimy surface of its skin making the creature's skin glow grey in the moonlight.

"Fall back!" Adelaide commanded again, wishing should could hurl the gates closed behind her companions but they were not all inside, and upon the sound of her voice, the creature before her and Legolas sprang into action, its tentacles darting forward with incomparable speed, its fury at being disturbed, over its own pitiful existence coalescing in a furious attack. With a howl, Adelaide raised her arms and sidestepped one stray tentacle, slicing at another and nicking the slippery skin of the beast with Authiel. The creature was strong, and fast, and before she could lop off the rest of the limb, it was gone, drops of black blood falling into the water. Beside her Legolas seemed to dance, leaping over tentacles, arrows firing left and right and up and into the water itself where the body of the great beast was only a black mass. The pair of moved naturally, when one limb crept too close for arrows, Adelaide kept it at bay, Legolas protecting her from above with a volley of arrows.

"To your left, Adelaide," Legolas chimed, almost casually, and she whirled at the last second to find that one tentacle had slid out of the water without her notice and was crawling across the rocks towards her ankle. With a growl, she whirled her blade above her head and brought it down upon the creeping limb, severing in two completely. There was a ring of metal on stone as her sword struck the ground – any man-made sword would have snapped with the strength of her blow.

"Inside! Inside!" Gandalf shouted behind the two of them as they covered the Fellowship's retreat, and Adelaide could hear their cries of dismay as they watched Legolas and herself dancing beside the water's edge. She felt her fury from earlier in the day return to her, and with a scream, she threw her arm out and sent a white hot bolt of light from her hand and speeding into the night air where it connected with one of the tentacles and burned it from the body. The power from her magic sent a crackling into the air, and the smell of burning flesh began to mix with the stench of the Watcher's foul blood.

Yet for all the strength of their combined attack, they did not notice a spare tentacle that had slipped behind one of the boulders lining the lake, and they became aware of it only when they heard a desperate cry from behind them. With a surge of dread, Adelaide whipped around to find Frodo thrashing on the ground, the rest of the Fellowship watching with horror from within the doors of Moria, the tunnel behind them a black maw into the mountainside. Time seemed to slow and she turned her hand from the water and towards the arm that now pulled Frodo towards the water, Legolas' silver hair spinning beside her in unison. _We cannot be too late_ Adelaide thought, summoning her strength for another blast. She knew with a certainty that terrified her that if Frodo fell beneath the water's surface, he would not come back again. Before her, the hobbit grabbed at the rocky shore, searching for purchase, but he was nothing compared to the strength of the beast that had hold of him.

Suddenly, from the darkness of Moria a figure sprang, and at the last second Adelaide stopped the surge of energy down her arm as she recognized none other that Sam Gamgee howling with sword brandished. The hobbit's eyes glowed unrecognizable red in fury, and he brought down his weapon in one fatal swoop, cutting the tentacle away entirely.

"Inside!" Gandalf called again, and at last Adelaide did not hesitate. She and Legolas rushed forward and grabbed Frodo under the arms and dragged him into the darkness of the gates.

"Deeper in!" Aragorn shouted. "Get out of the reach of its tentacles."

The Fellowship sprinted forward, hearts beating wildly and their breath short. The attack had come suddenly to the rest of them who had not had Legolas or her own sense of warning. Behind them, out of the reach of the Watcher, the creature thrashed its remaining tentacles in fury, latching onto the holly trees and the stone side of the mountain. The hall where they stood filled with ripping and cracking sounds, and helpless they watched as the trees were uprooted and the doors crumbled before them, trapping them inside.

Darkness fell, and for a moment no one dared breathe, trapped inside the stale cavern as the echoes of the collapsed mountainside faded into the tunnels behind them. At last, both Adelaide and Gandalf summoned light – Gandalf his staff and Adelaide a hovering orb of white just above her shoulder. Around her, each face shone waxy and wan, and she took note of each of their conditions. Only Gandalf, Aragorn and Gimli seemed unshaken. Even Legolas seemed surprised by what had befallen them.

"Well," Pippen said at last, breaking the silence. In the cavern, the ceiling above them only blackness, walls hidden in shadow, his voice seemed loud and they all winced. "It seems as if we can't go out that way." It was meant as a joke, and Adelaide forced herself to smile for the sake of the group around her.

"Which way do we go?" Frodo asked, his voice steady despite the attack that he had just undergone.

"The only way we can," Gandalf replied, and with a slight bob of his head he spun on his heels, grey cloak flowing about him. "Onward."

The Fellowship one by one followed after Gandalf, Adelaide bringing up the rear so that both the front and back of the line had light to see by. No one spoke, forcing themselves not to acknowledge the fact that the Watcher in the Water had gone straight for Frodo, that their entrance into Moria had been anything but silent, and that, most importantly, they were trapped in the mountain with only one way out. For the first time since their journey had begun, Adelaide felt truly afraid.


End file.
